The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning
by HarryPotterEncyclopedia24
Summary: The three Users from each dimensions: Aether, Overworld, Nether, are teaming up to face the threat that may decide the fate of all three worlds. First story focuses on the Overworld where they search for the last Overworld Users, but the Creeper King and his minions won't let them be. Rated T for violence. WARNING: TESTING STORY. WEBTOON/COMIC REMAKE BEING DONE IN DEVIANTART
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

**This is the first Minecraft fanfic I wrote! :P I DON'T OWN MINECRAFT!**

**EDIT: I rewrote some chunks of this because I kept cringing every time I passed this chapter. So, yeah.**

**X**

Delta824

I'm Delta824. I live in the Overworld, which is the normal Minecraft world. There are animals, various biomes, and of course, monsters. I live alone, which is really common. This is survival, so the baddies love to kill the Users. Every night, I go up to the borders of my village, shooting down random creepers and collecting gunpowder, or slicing the undead: Typical.

Life in Overworld is never easy. Of course, at night, monsters spawn, ready to tear you to pieces. The sun comes out, and the undead goes up in flames. But creepers and spiders: they survive, which pretty much sucks.

I wish I have company in here, as I lived my whole life without anyone that I can communicate with: all I have is a wolf. There are evidences that more people once inhabited this wide world, but so far, I didn't come across a single human being.

I live in a huge 'village' that I built to shield myself from monsters. It's ridiculously large to accommodate one User, but I like big stuff. And it served my purpose very well, since I didn't get blown into bits or be a nice meal for the undead. My village pretty much rock, except that I'm the only human. I heard there are other dimensions: Aether and Nether. I think it would be entertaining to build a portal and get in there but what's the point? I'm all alone.

X

Alpha198

Hey, this is Alpha198, permanent resident of the hostile paradise. You don't know where that is? Shame. It's Aether. It's like a bunch of floating islands with moas, phygs, whirlwinds, aerbunnies, sheepuffs, etc. I'm like the only one living here so the whole floating world is mine. There is only one structure ever made by myself: My house. It's made entirely out of carved stone with occasional dungeon light stones to brighten my house, with necessary furniture to survive. I have a front yard where I grow my crops and where I keep my ride. What's my ride? A moa. A black one, actually. Really rare and is much cooler than white or blue moas and flying animals. I named him Vulcan, and he's awesome.

Day is really long in Aether, and night is pretty much light, or doesn't come at all. There is this huge boss called the Sun Spirit, and he's the one to blame when night comes late. You kill him? AWESOME! You bring permanent night to the Aether and the big fiery giant is out cold.

Seriously, life in Aether is all cool and that, except the land is like, floating and there are hostile mobs. The world is awesome, but I wonder if there are any extra-terrestrial life forms out there in other dimensions.

X

Omega245

Hey, I'm Omega245. I'm the only living human in the Nether, a Minecraft hell. This place is filled with danger. You get out of your house completely unprotected? Get ready to get bombed by ghasts. White ghost jellyfishes float around the sky, looking for some tasty morsels. The land is filled with lava instead of water, and mutants roam the land. Zombie-pigmen march around with their pesky little golden swords, and hunt people down who killed one of their brethren. I may have made some grudge against them, because I hit one of them accidentally with my ham. I still look out for them before I leave the house.

My house is not cool, and cut me some slack. I live in the Nether, the ultimate hell! I only built out of Netherrack and cobblestone, since it's resistant to ghast fireballs. I would have used the Nether bricks, but I didn't found any nearby. I also used some glowstones, the native light source in this hell world. Sadly, I don't have any other companies in here except some hostile zombie piggies, albino jellyfishes, these things called Blazes, and some Magma cubes. Pretty much sucks.

Here's an example. I went out the house, and a zombie pigman greets me with a nasty gold sword. But again, that pink-green monster groaned grotesquely and fell, leaving me about two million more to go. A ghast aims a fireball. GREAT! I shot back. SHEEAAAAAK! It screeches.

"Hey, jelly!" I yell. "Say something." Wow, I'm talking to a monster.

"_Huuuurrrrt Meee._" It says. I'm serious. That's what it says.

"Yeah? I'll hurt YOU!" I shot some arrows and the jelly died. See? Piece of cake.

You'll probably wonder how I got the cobblestone and food and all that. Well, I found some at random chests I discovered in random places. This will probably mean that there were inhabitants other than me, but I didn't meet anyone so far. So I guess I'm the only person to survive in this dangerous world.


	2. I Meet a Human Being

**A/N:**

**EDIT: I wrote almost the entire chapter, since this was one of my least favourites. I think it's way better now, but I guess I'm not satisfied. Maybe it's because the whole chapter's just an introduction. Bleh, anyway, I promise that other chapters are way better.**

Delta824

It's morning here, and I'm just bored out of my mind. I already fed the animals, I have plenty of food, no monsters are in my sight, and nothing's left for me to repair. So I'm just sitting in my house, flicking through pages of books I have in my possession.

I love reading books, and especially fantasy style. They tend to feature people, but I'm not sure if they were real. It's an awkward fact, but I nicked these books from NPC village libraries. For some reason, I like visiting those villages and get whatever I can out of those people. Am I too mean? I guess you can say that. Still, it was worth it to snag books telling useful stuff for survival. But I have other reasons to like books. Sure, they're really fun, but reading about Users doing stuff in a 'fictional' world made me wonder if I wasn't alone. It was like having a company of my same kind.

I have a wolf named Pluto, and we've known each other ever since I rescued him from a freezing taiga biome, with loads of angry creepers screaming for murder (long story). After that, he just followed me around, so I trained him to be my monster killer. Turned out that I was successful after all: he's very eager to slaughter evil beings except for creepers. Right now, this terrifying monster slayer who eats skeleton skulls for snacks is lounging on the floor, whining and moaning about lack of fun. Very ironic in my opinion.

For the next hours of the day, we were just like that, ignoring each other completely. I only closed my book when I realised the sun was going down. GREAT! Time to loot the monsters.

"Come on," I called out to my wolf, who instantly stood up, and bounded towards the door, wagging his tail excitedly. We got out of the house, and I was about to check my supply of arrows when I heard the sound.

_Zzzt._

There must be an Enderman out there, judging by the place where it came from. I instantly ditched my original plan of shooting monsters down from the wall, and ran to the huge gate. After opening it up, I ordered my wolf to stay inside, since I didn't want to see my pet being pulverized by those teleporting beings. I was able hear his moans and whines even after I closed the gate.

I looked around, and saw an Enderman picking up a piece of dirt from the ground. As silently as I can, I approached it and prepared to strike it down with my sword when it vanished from the spot, reappearing about ten blocks away.

Silently cursing, I slowly inched towards it, but every time I got into hitting distance, it moved away as if luring me to a certain place. This repeated itself for about five times, and I soon arrived at a mountain next to my home where monsters tried to invade my place using that route. Weirdly enough, the monsters weren't there.

Finally, the Enderman stopped, and seemed to ponder about something on the spot. Gripping my sword, I moved forward to slash across its body, but before I could do so, the Enderman disappeared, probably arriving at some place I can't reach.

"Oh forget it," I grumbled. Now that the stupid Enderman led me to this mountain, I had nothing to do, but to stay and gaze at the moon for a while, thinking if there are aliens in there. I was really hoping for any humanoid beings except zombies and skeletons, or possibly, Endermen. I was in the verge of dreaming about alien abduction when a portal materialised next to me (was it made out of glowstone?). Out of the blue veil, a User toppled out. I was so shocked, so I just stared at him. He stared back. Then he straightened up, and said, "Hi, I'm Alpha198."


	3. I Get Out of the Hostile Paradise

Alpha198

Seriously, tumbling out of the portal and facing an actual human was too overwhelming for me. Before that, I was minding my business, shooting the Hammer of Notch (an Aether weapon that is really awesome) to some random Zephyrs (rectangular snowball-shooting dudes) and collecting their drops. Vulcan was in his house, so I wasn't worried about him getting knocked out of the island.

I nibbled on some Ambrosium Shard (Aether food) and shot some aerbunnies (rabbits that jump around, but they look like they're farting) that were so unfortunate to stay in the island with my Hammer.

"Squeeaak!" An aerbunny collapses.

"Meeep!" Another one is gone.

"Squeak!" The last farting bunny is off the island.

I thought of battling a dungeon boss to loot the place, but I was lazy. Killing cockatrices (colourful moa shooting poison darts)? Hmm, maybe. Killing Aechor Plants (Aether plants with poison dart)? Tempting. Attacking a bunch of Swets (blue or yellow Aether slimes)? Voila.

So I went for the jell-o.

The whole lot was peacefully minding their business until-

"YAAAA!"

A Swet went down as I gave him a critical blow. The others started to slop towards me, but my zanite sword was no match for them. Soon, the remains of the square demons littered the floor as I cut down the last one. Piece of cake.

As far as I figured it out, there were no more mobs except a whirlwind (hostile mob that throws you to the sky), two phygs (flying pigs) and an unfortunate aerwhale (a floating whale) that managed to get stuck in the terrain again.

I attacked the phygs, killed the whirlwind, and pushed the aerwhale out of my island. After that was done, I skipped to my house, and to my horror, a colony of Aechor Plants decided to crash out on my lawn.

Aechor Plants are hostile, poison dart-shooting flowers which is one of the most irritating mobs in Aether. But a whole lot of them in my house? That has gone too far.

I can't approach them directly because it would poison me, and sadly, there were no Aechor Petals in my inventory (the flowers don't attack if I do/have). So I shot my Hammer of Notch, and they were all fried vegetables. Aechor Petals were lying on the floor and as I collected them, I wondered: I already have a moa, but why am I collecting this (Aechor Petals are used to tame baby moas)?

I finished getting them, all right. Night was falling in the Aether (if you can call it night), and I knew that I should get in the house because cockatrices spawn in the dark. But a glowing thing behind my house caught my attention.

Despite that I may be shot by the demonic birds, I slowly inched towards the light, and to my surprise, found out that the light source was a glowing portal.

I may be stupid, reckless, or whatever words that contain the same meaning, but I did the obvious thing: I jumped in, just to check out what it would lead to. I got out of the portal and accidentally stumbled, coming face-to-face with an actual User.

We were so stunned at first, but I got up and introduced myself. The guy was frozen, open-mouthed for a second, then said, "I'm Delta824."

"Where is this place?" I asked.

"This is the Overworld. I live here. Where are you from?" he asked.

"Well, I live in the Aether."

"Where?"

"These floating islands with mobs and dungeons."

"Oh."

I was surprised that the land was all joined up; all the land of Aether was islands.

I asked, "Are there any more people than you living in the Overworld?"

"Nope, just me." He answered. That was a depressing thought.

I was about to say more when another portal appeared out of nowhere. It was black, with a purple veil. Out came another User. I was about to have a heart attack.

"Where is this?" he asked blindly.

"The Overworld." Delta824 answered.

"Amazing," he muttered, "I'm actually here."

"Why? Who are you? Where're you from?" I asked.

"My name is Omega245." The guy said. He added, "I'm from the Nether."

X

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the short chapter; it's just the introduction, and I promise that the next chapter will be longer. Please review!**


	4. Fun in the Dungeon

Omega245

Before I got magically transported into the Overworld, I was planning to search for a Nether Fortress, to get Blaze rods and Nether bricks. I was pondering between diamond and stone sword to use on the Blazes (fiery fellows, a dangerous mob) when a Nether portal appeared outside my house.

I didn't know what the obsidian frame would do, so I approached cautiously, surveying the structure. An invisible force seemed to grab onto me, and pulled me through the portal without waiting for my decision.

I arrived at a new world, with no red stuff or shrieking monsters. Two people were looking at me as if I dropped out of space. Wait, _people_. I blabbered something that I can't remember, but I told them my name, and where I came from. One dude was a native Overworld called Delta824 and the other was Alpha198 from the Aether (I had no idea what that was).

"We should get in my village now," Delta824 broke the silence. "The monsters are roaming the land."

"You have a village?" I asked.

"Yeah. With all the important stuff."He answered back.

Anyway, with the moon shining (the thing was amazing: it was lighting up the totally dark world), us three walked down the mountain. Every now and then, Delta told us to run as groaning, clicking, shrieking and hissing started to fill the air. We arrived at a huge wall made of obsidian, probably covering the village. Delta pressed a button, and the wall began to open up.

"Extra security measures." He said, "I have to keep the bad guys out."

Once we got in, the magic door closed, and the first thing I said was: "Whoa."

The village was beautiful. Loads of glowstone lighted up the inside, torches were on the floor, and lots of buildings were situated everywhere. We walked the cobblestone road, with the glowstone lamp post on the side, and reached an obsidian house. It was really impressive, with the huge capacity and clear windows. Alpha stared around in wonder, and said, "You made this all by yourself?"

"Yep," Delta answered proudly. "I'll introduce you to Pluto."

"Who's that-?" I started, but my question was answered as a wolf bounded out from nowhere, jumping around Delta.

"This is my wolf," he said, "This is my only companion in the Overworld."

"He's cute," I said. Pluto started rubbing his head on my leg.

"A sign of appreciation," Delta grinned. "Come in, make yourselves at home."

The inside was really impressive, with the fireplace and bookshelves. I seriously loved this dude's house.

We were so tired, so we asked for beds to crash out. Delta fashioned two beds from wools and wooden planks that he had. Soon, all three of us were sound asleep.

X

"Dudes, wake up," Delta called, "time for some movement."

I opened my eyes and looked around. It was that house all right, so it was not a dream that I met two of my kinsmen and got out of the Minecraft hell. There was actually a sun, which was amazing, since Nether had no sun.

We just had a tour around the village, and every now and then, monsters popped out and tried to devour our flesh, then fail epically. There was this dude, called the creeper, who exploded if it got nearer to players. This monster didn't burn up in the sun like zombies and skeletons, so that sucked. Another one, the spider also survived daylight, but it was a nocturnal predator, which meant that it won't attack us in day, except if we attacked it first.

I knocked down a creeper with a very close call of hearing the "Ssss" with my sword. This Overworld was much better than Nether: It had sun, passive mobs, interesting new kinds of monsters, water and grass. Vegetation was all around us, with trees, flowers, sugar canes, tall grasses etc. This place was paradise (not for Delta, but since I lived in Nether for my whole life, so yeah).

We had some foods and Delta said that he'll actually take us to the mineshaft, which was really exciting for us newcomers.

"It's not that fun, actually," said Delta, as he casually pulled out a pickaxe from the chest (that dude actually had a diamond pickaxe!)

"I'm so excited!" Alpha beamed as he too, brought out a purple pickaxe.

"What's that made of?" asked Delta curiously.

"It's a zanite pickaxe," explained Alpha. "It's like the coolest pickaxe in Aether. Same level as the diamond pickaxe." He nodded towards Delta's blue pick.

Soon, we were walking down the cobblestone road, with the pickaxes swinging by our side. Delta stopped at a huge hole surrounded with stone slabs to mark the entrance.

"This," said Delta dramatically, "is the Mineshaft."

All I could say was: "Whoa."

The hole was 5x5, and there were ladders leading downwards. Delta began to climb down the hole and Alpha followed. As I got in, I could see the endless huge tunnel leading down, maybe to the bottom of the world. It wasn't as dark as I expected: There were torches lighting up the hole, so I could see clearly.

As I got deeper into the earth, I could see smaller tunnels leading vertically through the stones with signs etched with words.

Soon, Delta stopped at some point, because I could hear Alpha saying, "Dude, I almost ran into you! Why are you stopping?"

"This is the project that we are going to tackle today." Delta announced. He was pointing at another hole that I assumed was another same tunnels that I saw previously. I squinted for a sign, and there it was, a signpost with the words saying: PROJECT EPSILON

"There are lots of projects in this Mineshaft," explained Delta, "starting from Project Alpha to Project Omega."

"Isn't that our name?" I blurted out.

"Yeah, it seems so," Delta said, "but I knew these for a long time."

"Like us." Alpha commented, still looking at the sign.

"Let's just get inside, shall we?" Delta asked. Then we plunged into the hole.

X

The hole was spacious, with torches illuminating the darkness. There were no monsters so far, and I assumed that it was too bright to spawn. The wall was all cleanstone (normal stone) so it looked like nobody touched it. Every now and then, we took some turns and met some puddle of lava (I was surprised that the substance also existed here), some underground waterfalls and a colony of iron.

"Irons are very useful substances in the Overworld," said Delta, as he mined up an iron ore. "You can't use this stuff as it is now: You have to smelt it."

"Smelt?" I asked.

"You have to shove it in the furnace with some nice pieces of coals, and it yields you iron ingots."

"What can you do with those stuff?" asked Alpha.

"Well, you can craft tools, armours, iron bars, flint and steel, etc." said Delta. "An iron pick is the best pick after diamond."

Soon, we reached a staircase after dodging a lava lake. The stair was impressive, with torches on the left side of the wall. The stair was also made of cleanstone (that is, the block was placed down, not the crafted stair).

"I put the torches on the left side so I can navigate my way back by following the right side torches." Delta commented, as he descended the stair.

"Ingenious," I muttered. I followed him, with Alpha behind me.

After a long hallway and some left turns, we arrived at what seemed to be the end of Project Epsilon. The wall was covered with coals, which made Delta grin.

"These, are the ultimate source in the Overworld," he announced, "also known as coals."

"There are loads of them!" exclaimed Alpha.

"Yup, there must be more of them behind," said Delta.

We began mining with our pickaxe: I, using a stone one, Delta with the diamond, and Alpha, with the purple exotic zanite pick.

The colony of coals seemed to go forever until my pickaxe hit on another block.

"What's that?" I asked.

Delta moved closer and examined the greenish stone. He looked a bit happy, anxious, and worried at the same time.

"Ah," he said, "that will be a dungeon stone, or as to say, mossy cobblestone."

"You have dungeons here?" asked Alpha.

"Yes, with spawners spawning monsters." Delta said grimly.

"So shall we skip here?" I asked tentatively.

"Nope, we'll just barge in." Delta answered. "There are goodies in the chests."

"Same as the Aether!" Alpha exclaimed.

"Yeah, now, I'll just have to identify which dungeon it is." Delta said, then pressed his ear on the wall for a few seconds, then his face relaxed a bit.

"Zombie dungeon," he said, "very lucky."

"Why?" I asked.

He just looked at me, and said, "Because other dungeons are more dangerous."

"Can I break the stone?" asked Alpha.

"Yes."

Alpha broke the stone quickly with his purple pick, so we can enter. As soon as we ran into the room, I was facing…a Delta824.

Well, not exactly Delta, but they wore same clothes as he did, except for the greenish sickly skin. They held their arms high, and grumbled in gibberish. I raised my sword as a green Delta ran towards me, desperate for live human flesh first time in millennia.

I just swung my sword, and that dude turned red, as all the other monsters do. Others were swarming towards us, and my friends started to hack their limbs down.

I jumped, and yelled, "YAAAA!" as I brought down the sword on its head again, giving the critical attack. Evil Delta fell to the floor, disintegrating into white particles, leaving green and yellow experience orbs (for level up) and rotten flesh. They popped into my inventory, but more of evil twins kept coming.

"Place torches around the spawner!" Delta yelled, as he whacked down an undead.

"Why?" I yelled back.

"Just do it!"

I did what I was told: Just do it. I waded into armies of zombies, whacking and smacking them with my sword. Every now and then, my hearts would deplete, but since I had full hunger bar, it was restored. Soon, I reached the origins of the undead army. There was a teeny tiny zombie swirling in the netlike box with flames around it. I fumbled for my stack of torches, and quickly placed them down around the evil monster machine.

The little zombie was still dancing, but no more zombies came out. My friends were hacking through green monsters until the last one left the world, to the World of Eternal Damnation.

Delta was there first; he got out his pickaxe, and started to hit the spawner madly. It took some decent times, but finally, the spawner broke, vanishing alongside the miniature zombie and the flames. The only things that were lighting the dungeon were torches. Panting, I asked, "So where are the prizes?"

Delta scanned the room, then pointed at a chest. We ran to it, opened up the crate, and stared at our prizes that we desperately longed for it, provoking the undead legionnaires.

There were 2 gunpowder, 3 pieces of string, a saddle, 8 pieces of cocoa beans and a bucket.

"A saddle? Pffft. _Please._" Alpha muttered.

"I agree." Delta said, "We can only use saddles on pigs."

"In Aether, we use it on Flying Cows, Phygs, and moas." Said Alpha.

"What are they?" I asked, curious.

"Bunch of flying animals."

"Oh."

"But the cocoa beans are good," said Delta, "we can take strings to craft our bow. I can spare some irons by taking that bucket. And I lacked on gunpowder."

"Well then, why don't we take them all?" I asked, grinning slyly.

We were about to leave the room, our inventory loaded with the loots when this creepy voice said, "You're not getting out of here alive."

X

Delta spun around and froze. Out of nowhere, a zombie came out, but the dude's shirt wasn't light blue: It was blood-red. He had same features as his brothers, but his eyes seem to glint more maliciously, as he surveyed us with contempt.

I was really smart, because all I said was: "Who the hell are you?"

The red zombie laughed. "An Infernosian? Long time and you humans hadn't changed a bit."

I was utterly bewildered. What did the mutant zombie call me?

Alpha muttered a curse that sounded like an Aether curse: _Solemuspiritum._ He glowered at the red zombie. "Since you're wearing a stupid shirt, you must be the boss here."

The zombie laughed again, which irritated the Blazes out of me. "Well spotted, Astrian. I am the Zombie, leader of all zombies in the Overworld! I don't normally appear in front of you pathetic Users, but be honoured: You shall suffer the wrath in payment of attacking our lair!"

I should have been scared, but I smiled actually. "Since you have a capital Z on your name, does that make you the boss? I mean, that's stupid. You could have thought out some cooler titles, like Scarlet the Jerk, or the Zombie who got Green. That's much better than the Zombie."

The zombie turned greener, if that's possible. "For that insult, Infernosian, you shall be the first one to die by my hand!" And he lunged.

I was ready for this, but my mates saved me: They pulled out their swords and parried the Zombie's fist away. The red boss yelled in frustration, and hurled his green hand to Delta instead, but Delta was a good fighter. He slashed at the zombie's hand, dodged the punches, and kept him busy for a while so I can get ready.

The Zombie was a dangerous monster, but since zombies only punched and pummelled, so us three Users against a red zombie lord was pretty good. Soon, the zombie was reduced to green muck. He glowered at us with the black eyes glinting with pure hatred, as he was slowly dissolving to white dusts.

"You shall regret this, _Users._" He said the last word with contempt. "Monsters shall rise and the Creeper King will be as powerful as ever." With that happy thought, the Zombie died.

We should have been cheering or what, but the last words of the zombie leader left a chill throughout the room. He called me an Infernosian, and Alpha an Astrian. He also said something about the Creeper King. I didn't know how we were feeling individually about this news, but we all had the same thought in our mind: A war was coming.

X

**A/N:**

**Dun, dun, dun,** **epic ending of this chapter! :D I also forgot to mention that Delta824 looks the same as a normal Minecraft guy without the beard, but Alpha198 has bluish white shirt with light blue spirals on it with a bit darker light blue pants. He has brown hair and dark blue eyes. Omega245 has reddish orange shirt with scarlet flame shapes on the front and the back. His hair is black and so are his eyes. His skin has a very little reddish hue because he's from the Nether. But the others' skins are same. Thank you so much for reading and the awesome reviews on my stories! You guys make me feel positive with those Gmail saying about Alerts/Reviews/Favourites. :D**


	5. Blame the Monsters for Everything

**A/N:**

**I forgot to mention that tools of Aether don't work properly in other dimensions, but zanite tools are awesome, so I just made it like that. And I know that Minecraft 1.1 came out, and there are some changes, but it doesn't contain any 'things' that would get in the problem with 1.0 which is the version I am writing now. I didn't like the Aether world in the 1.0 update, so I'm keeping the 1.7.3 version, but the 1.0 will be mentioned in the future. And for those who don't know, Delta824 is my Minecraft ID. Delta's village is also the same design that I will have for my server. Notify that!**

**X**

Delta824

After the journey to the dungeon and meeting the mafia boss, I was pretty darn shaken up. He seemed like he knew about Users more than us. He called Alpha and Omega some names that I never heard of it in my life. We hung out in my village, and my new friends helped defending the territory all night. I was grateful that I had two more companions, but they looked…different than me. I mean, Omega had dark coloured skin with a weird coloured shirt, whereas Alpha had blue eyes and light blue clothes.

I was teaching the foreign people how to harvest crops in the greenhouse and they were delighted to break wheat and sugar canes that were ready.

It was really busy for me, explaining stuffs like animal breeding, mushroom harvesting, and crafting tools in the Overworld. Luckily, they were enthusiastic learners, which was thankful for me. I tried to look normal, but my mates found that I was a bit distracted as usual.

"Delta, what's wrong?" asked Alpha, after he sliced down a pig.

"Me? Nah, I'm fine." I tried to force a smile.

"No, you're not." Omega said firmly. "You've been weird after that little adventure to the zombie dungeon."

"Is it about the Creeper King that's disturbing you?" Alpha asked.

"Yeah," I answered heavily, "I never heard of it, but it sounds as if that one is much more worse than an ordinary creeper."

"I wonder if that dude is linked to us being the only Users here." Omega said.

We talked about that situation all the way to the house, and guess what? It's sunset.

"Oh, yeah," I grinned. "Showtime."

X

"So we just need to shoot down monsters?" yelled Alpha from the east of the barrier.

"Yeah, and do combats with spiders: They climb the wall." I yelled back.

We were circling the walkway on the barrier with our bows ready. Thankfully, we all had experience with bows, so I was positive that we'll end this night as a victory.

The walkway of the barrier was also obsidian with glowstones and torches lighting up the way. It was 3 blocks wide, with glowstone trail on the middle. There were stairs leading up to it, and it was well defended from the monsters, alongside the piston gate. I prowled around the edges, looking for more baddies. Zombies and creepers jumped up and down, hopelessly demanding Users for their dinner. I still felt uneasy about seeing the zombies, since we killed their boss, so they would be extra-angry.

We shot down monsters as many as possible, and their remains went into the little water trenches surrounding the barrier, leading down to the basement under the village. It was unfortunate if an enderman came, because I was worried that it might teleport right into the village, fatally damaging both nature and humans.

I had no idea how long we've been fending off the monster army, but it seemed that the number of them has increased dramatically, which worried me more than the enderman. The monsters seemed to come endlessly. Our village was brightened enough so that the nasties can't spawn, so I had no problem inside it. It was our only safe zone.

I shot down a spider with my arrow, and realized in shock, that the arrow was the last one in my inventory. I hurried up to the nearest supply tower, and opened up the chest to bring more arrows. Then I heard these explosions overhead. I assumed that the creeper blew up, but the explosion continued, going on for 10 full seconds. I knew that the obsidian wall was strong, and would definitely survive the creeper explosion, but the continuous booming was concerning. I heard my friends shooting down creepers as much as they can, but the sound did not stop. They were exploding for more than a minute, when-

BOOOOOM.

I felt like something dropped out of my stomach. Quickly, I ran out of the tower, and stared at the wall that it should have been there.

There was a massive hole in the barrier, and the remains of obsidian and glowstone littered the floor. Monsters marched in, heading straight for the stairs. It wasn't possible! The blast resistance of obsidian was infinity, and was only breakable by diamond pickaxe.

"East wall is breached!" I yelled at the top of my voice. "East wall is breached, monsters entered the village! Abandon post, and barricade the stairs! I repeat, East wall is breached! Barricade the stairs, abandon post! "

We drew our dirt blocks, and hastily began to block all the ways to the walkway. Evil creatures were climbing the stairs, but we managed to shut off a route just as three skeletons made their way.

The others decided to use the other stairs, and started to walk off. I was stunned for a moment. How did they get that smart? They usually stayed with the Users.

"Delta, come on!" Alpha yelled in my ears, tugging my arm. "We have to cut off the stairs!"

"Stairs, right," I mumbled. We ran to the nearest stair, and started to place dirt all over it, blocking every surface available. Soon, we barricaded all the stairs except the one on the South wall. Panic rose in my mind as the undead army marched up to the stair. We ran as fast as we can towards it, but it was too late. A creeper came up to the top and looked at us cruelly, as if mocking us and smiling grotesquely, if creepers can do that.

I was about to kill that hideous creature, when Omega did the job for me. He jumped on the creature, and brought down his sword hard on its head. The creeper was momentarily pushed away, snarling from the critical attack, but Alpha pulled his bowstring all the way to the end, then let go, banishing the creature to the netherworld.

The other monsters didn't have time to gape at us. We mercilessly chopped up the evil army until the sun came up, and the undeads went up in flames. The only remaining army seemed that they will fight to the end, and their wish was granted. Soon, no monsters were within the perimeter of the wall, and the items hovered on the ground, as we collected them.

I stared at the vast, ugly hole in the wall, and started to mend it with the fallen materials. The wall was 5 layers thick, and I wondered, as I finished the outer layer, how the creepers managed to penetrate the Impenetrable Wall. It was a mystery, because it took more than 2 millions of TNT to break obsidian, and the creepers were much weaker than that.

With the help of Alpha and Omega, we finished the fourth layer and started to work on the last and the inner layer, when the sun was setting. We decided to work overnight, and thankfully repaired all the damage those stupid insufferable scowling green creatures. I decided that I should add more extra layers outside thanks to the smarter monsters. At last, with the extra glowstone sticking out of the surface, the three layers of obsidian were added perfectly, and I wanted to see those creepers bashing through that barrage; the penetration took more than 10,000,000,000 creepers. We were so tired, and I didn't even bother to tell the newcomers to defend the wall. The inside of the village was really bright, so I wasn't worrying when-

'_Twang'_

An arrow stuck on the dirt right on the left of Alpha who did the obvious thing: He yelled his head off, brought out his sword and swung wildly. I swivelled around, and saw a skeleton, who took a refuge in the water. You see, if zombies and skeletons are in water when it's daylight, they don't burn. Anyway, I drew my bow and shot the skelly until it dissolved into experience orbs, bones and arrows. After that, we continued walking.

"Meeeaaaahhhh."

A random sheep pushed me, bleating in my face. The village floor had to have some dirt, right? I mean, the Overworld is full with natures and plants and other boring things not made by men. Everything except the roads was dirt covering the floor, and animals had to spawn. The spawn rate is low, but they still spawned. I could have more animals if I wanted to from the farm, so I allowed myself to kill any natural spawned animals. Actually, the caged animals' ancestors were once unruly mammals and birds that roamed the harsh and dangerous wilderness, completely unaware that a single fence can block them from freedom of going over. I started the farm when I finished the whole village construction, so I might have killed the original pairs a long time ago. But they looked all same, so it was possible 'theoretically' that they still lived, luckily avoiding my diamond sword. I can guarantee that the old starters perished, and even if they still lived, the bleating would sound like a century-old bleeper.

I showed Alpha and Omega how to kill a sheep with my bare hands, and I demonstrated, obviously. The woolly mammal left me some wool blocks and experience orbs. Alpha and Omega were fascinated by the power of human hand, and I could understand them, since they didn't have that much passive mobs in their dimensions, and Alpha always killed sheepuffs, aerbunnies and moas with swords. Wait, Alpha said that he never dreamt of killing a moa, since feathers were available from cockatrices. Well, boohoo for him.

Anyway, I didn't want some fluffy wool from Sheep the Rabid in my inventory, so I stuffed them in the 'Bank'. This 'Bank' is actually a storage room where I stash useless stuffs for later. I can use that wool if I want to, but I swear that the time would come when creepers fly.

We entered my house after taking a small detour to the greenhouse to restore sugar cane supplies. Pluto sat obediently on the lawn, determined to show the newcomers that he was a perfect wolf.

"Shove some rotten flesh in him," I said, and Alpha brought out some of the disgusting thing, making Pluto's head cock. Alpha fed him the meat, and Pluto's tail went up, showing full health.

Alpha turned to me, looking horrified. "You didn't say he was hungry."

"I didn't. I did not know." I felt shameful, not being able to even check my wolf's health. Suddenly, the idea of just sitting around the table inside the house, mournfully chewing cooked beef made me sad. I wanted to do something that these dudes never got the chance to do themselves, so I racked my brain for some ideas. Surprisingly, there was one.

"Hey everyone," I called, "midnight fishing?"

X

"Got one!" Omega yelled excitedly, as he hurled another fish onto the ground. There we were, standing on the fishing area with our fishing poles out, and reeling in whenever the fish caught it. I taught them how to do this, and come to think of it, it was pretty dumb of me to leave out fishing lessons. The two Users were thrilled that a fish would just come out of the water in the item form, not complaining about lack of water or even struggling.

You see, there's a lake that snaked across the village, connected all the way to the sea. Fishes can exist in small water areas, but I preferred the natural ones. There were 10 fishes in my inventory, so I just sat back down and watched Alpha and Omega as they shrieked and laughed in amazement as a grey fish came up from the water, not moving an inch.

We came into the more civilised place by following the yellow brick road (oops, I mean following the yellow stone road), and went up the path leading to my house. With these guys, the village finally looked more comforting. We ate some cooked fish, and hanged out in my house, which those two found fascinating.

My house is made up of obsidian in the inside, but the floor is wooden planks to give some more cottage-like impression. Glowstone are embedded on the ceiling, and torches light up the wall. There is a crafting table, a furnace, and some large chests in the first floor. Only three large chests exist in my house: one for foods, one for armours and weapons, and one for valuable things. There's also a fireplace made out of bricks, bookshelves filling in the spaces under stairs, and paintings are hung on the wall. The picture on top of the fireplace has a picture of a spider, which I found it was cool.

The second floor holds beds, some more bookshelves, a balcony made out of stone slabs, and a staircase leading to the roof of the house. The roof is just an area that can look around the glowing town or shoot down animals. So there isn't much of it in the highest place. I have a basement under the house, and this is only used for emergency hideout, and has a lava trashcan to incinerate an item that I REALLY don't need for my entire life.

Oh, and Pluto has a house made out of obsidian (don't object: I thought it would make a set with the house, and it's cool with little purple particles on it), and the only entrance is a 1x1x2 big hole, because wolves have trouble of going through doors. Inside, Pluto has some grass patches and a pool, and torches on the wall. He is the most luxurious wolf in the Minecraft world, and I'm sure of it. I mean, who has their own swimming pool with an owner feeding food whenever needed? Pluto is shut up in his house right now (because I ordered him) and boo-yah for him while we're having the fun of Hunt the Cow right outside the building.

Omega spotted a wild cow grazing on the terrain, so we decided to hunt it down. It was a fun sport, obviously not for cows. It perished with a "Mooh!" leaving us with experience orbs, two pieces of leather, and three raw beef. While we were tracking down the unforgivable outlaws, the sun came up, leading to groans and juggling of burning monsters, which I call it 'beautiful music'.

Afternoon activities were fun: I showed them the squids in the water, and we spent some hours exterminating them. After that, we went to this snowy biome just outside the village, and had a snow fight with freshly dug out snowballs. The snowballs didn't do any damage, so it was safe, unless you were pushed off the cliff.

Me, Alpha and Omega explored this taiga biome on the west of the village, and saw some wild wolves. Alpha, who already had a moa, thought that he was already enough with the bird, but for Omega, solitary life has been hard for him, and luckily, I had some bones in my inventory which soon earned Omega a wolf. This dude took more than one bones, which was unfair, because Pluto only took one bone to be tamed.

"Thanks, Delta!" Omega beamed, as his wolf trotted along, impulsively looking for new adventure and more live mobs to kill.

"Gee, you're welcome;" I answered back, "that one was an expensive one: took three bones? That's really really unfortunate."

X

It was night time, and we were back in my house, with Omega's new wolf, Thanatos playing with Pluto, and Alpha and Omega chewing cooked chicken. I was sitting on a block and was reading a book from a bookshelf. The title was called _Tales of Minecraft_, and it was basically about some fun stories in the Minecraft world. This book was snagged from a NPC village I once looted, but I didn't have enough time to check out other books because skeletons were ready to shoot me down that time.

I casually flipped another page, and my eyes fell onto a paragraph:

_The world of Minecraft is surely incredible. The vast land full with vegetation and life forms are truly a thing to be marvelled at and the monsters itself are fantastic and admirable. It is also amazing that Users, like I, can adapt in this environment, and triumph over the mobs, with building structures that would last forever-_

I froze. Everything seemed to slow down. More Users? I was already stunned to meet two, and this guy was saying like there were hundreds and thousands more. What did the author mean by this? And was the author also a User? It had to be. How else would he have been able to write? Villagers were too stupid: they had the knowledge of a pig.

I abruptly stood up, stacking the book back into the shelf. I checked in my inventory if I had enough supplies. Alpha and Omega stopped chatting as I strode past them, and opened the door.

"Delta, where are you going?" called Alpha.

"I-I need to walk." I answered.

Pluto bounded towards me, yapping.

"Stay, Pluto." I ordered.

The wolf barked.

"Stay." I commanded.

Pluto still barked. Man, the wolf was persistent.

"STAY, DOG," I ordered, in a dangerous tone.

The dog shrank back into the shadows. I felt bad for him.

"I'll be right back." I promised, and went out to the cold night air. I was going to visit that old NPC village again, and nobody was going to stop me. Even charged creepers won't block my way to the town. I had to search more books about the Users. I wanted desperately to believe that we're not alone in this huge, vast world, and was determined to find them out if they remained. I opened the piston gate, and watched as the piston drew away, leaving a big gap on the wall. I drew my breath, and stepped out of the safe, bright and warm village into the dark, cold and dangerous wilderness.

X

Far away, in a distant land, where no Users can reach the place, a skeleton jiggled into a huge room. He bowed to a towering figure, and murmured, "My king, the User Delta824 is out of the village."

The tall figure hissed softly. "Excellent. Is he heading towards the Place of Knowledge?"

"Yes, my king." The skeleton rattled back.

"Is he alone?"

"He left the strangers in his village, and even left his wolf."

"Good. We must never let this User come out of the Place alive to deliver the others about the history. You, Skeleton General, will lead the assault. Destroy the whole place if you must."

"As you wish, my king," the Skeleton General answered, and walked out of the room.

The figure chuckled. "My, Delta824, you have no idea what the place actually is. You shall never find out about the other Users. The last User of the Overworld will be destroyed, and so will the last Infernosian and Astrian. The legacy of the Creeper King shall last forever in the world of Minecraft!" He turned his head to the bright moon, and the only thing that was visible from the shadows were shining malicious-looking black eyes and a golden glinting crown on his green and white head.

X

**A/N:**

**YAY, another cliffy! :D Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please look out for the poll on my profile page! I already have all the storyline planned out, so I'll be writing it frequently, but I think it would take ages, because I want to give you guys a nice long chapter. Again, Delta's village design is exactly like our server village design, and I actually used my house plan on Delta's house. Is that all I need to say? Hmm… oh, wait, for those who don't know, Thanatos in Greek means death. That's all I'm going to say in this author's note. Please look out for more epic chapters of the Minecraft Chronicles!  
>P.S. Some people said stuff about the 'obsidian wall breaking down' part. I know about the whole TNT stuff, and I did this for the storyline. Please note this point, because I got a bit tired of reading reviews saying it. Okay people? Fab.<strong>


	6. A Partially Revealed Secret

**A/N:**

**Hey, it is Delta's point of view again; I was really tempted to go on the cliffy from the last chapter: many people would have wanted to know the ending. :P Well, here you go!**

**X**

Delta824

I arrived at the NPC village soon enough: it was actually near to the village, compared to others. The town looked pretty ghostly, since I stripped off the entire light source in there. Only houses remained to show that once there were long-nosed inhabitants in the village. I walked along the gravel road, being very cautious and looking out for those condemned monsters. I flinched every time I sensed movement, and it was stupid of me, to jump out of my armour whenever a chicken flapped. There are loads of buildings in a village, and there are villagers stuck in the house. Seriously, they didn't know how get out of their own house, and that was pretty dumb, but hey, cut them some slack: they have the IQ of a pig.

I passed a huge house where once a family lived. This so-called family is actually two villagers stuck in a huge house, and waddling in the mansion. They were killed shortly after I discovered them.

I could see the forge where a blacksmith stayed. The forges have a little pool of lava, and the lava pool was spitting fire weakly, since it was the only one that was lighting up the forge. This ghost town was not a place I wanted to come in midnight, but I had to look out for books. There was a house where a purple-robed villager used to live, another small house that some villagers decided to lock themselves in, and a farm, now completely deserted due to the fact that I scraped all the wheat growing there. I turned right from a patch of ground, and found a long house. This was it. This was the library, where a white robed librarian walked inside the house. With my heart hammering inside me, I opened the door, and took a tentative step in the building.

It was same as I remembered: bookshelves lined up on the top, and tables made of fence sticks and pressure plates. This time, it looked spookier without the torches lighting up the room. I searched the room, plucking books after books from the shelves, and opening it. The first one read: _How to Kill a Pig: A Beginner's Guide._ What the hell? I put that one back, and opened the next one. _100 Ways to Kill a Creeper without Damaging Yourself. _That was stupid. I tossed that aside, and did the same to those who had boring titles like: _Harvest Your Own Crop, Automatic Mushroom Farming with Redstone Circuits, and Handbook for Exterminating Monsters in Mineshafts: A clean environment without Any Dangers lurking in the Shadows! , _and _Cave Spider: A Depth Study into the Fascinating Blue Arachnids in Minecraft._ Soon, I cleaned all the shelves in the library, and it consisted nothing. Nothing at all about the Users in Minecraft. Then how did that book managed to get in those oddballs with the same shelf? I was furious, and upset so I stamped the ground hard, making the book pages flutter on the ground.

_Click._

A tiny metallic sound issued from the ground. I looked around, but the only things that came into my eyes were those stupid books and wooden pressure tables. I stamped the ground again.

_Click._

It was coming directly beneath the table. With doubts, I threw a random dirt block on the wooden pressure plate. They worked even if items were placed down, unlike stone pressure plates. Immediately, the table sunk into the ground, and revealed a hole with ladders leading downward.

Breathing hard, I climbed down the ladder, and the sight I truly wanted to see by trading 10 diamonds came into my eyes.

About 100s of shelves lined the huge room under that stupid puny library. It was dimly lit by torches, giving the mysterious impression. I looked around the room in wonder, and attacked the nearest shelf.

Finally, _finally_, there were answers. The book that I opened was about the damage Users get. The next one in line said about how the Users lived in a civilised pack, unlike animals.

_It is truly majestic that we are so different than any life forms in Minecraft, but to understand how we Users came into the land, and our history, it is best to consult _History of Minecraft_, a wonderful book to help us find out all about us-_

This _History of Minecraft_ had to be the one with the answer. I plucked the book back and furiously searched for the book. I was about to conclude that the book was burnt down by egomaniac creepers or being stolen by spiders when the one I opened for about the 31st time said: _History of Minecraft: a World Full with Wonders and Dangers, and the World of the Users._

The first paragraph was exactly what I was searching for.

_Long time ago, before any human was alive to record history, Users came to Minecraft. Unlike their fellow animals, Users were able to build structures out of blocks using their heads, and being able to craft. These developing of knowledge brought us to comfort, shelter, and food, but also to defend ourselves. _

_We Users have come to this world when there were only hostile mobs and passive animals-_

Hey, you know what? I thought. I'll read the rest with my buddies. Right now, I have to scrape the place again.

I dashed around the room, picking out books that seemed important to study about the history and about the Users. There were some which said stuff about trouble between monsters. Thinking that it might help about all the Users gone, I stuffed that in my inventory.

My spaces were fully loaded, and I was ready to go, when I heard jiggling nearby. Oops, skeletons again. I quickly climbed the ladder and arrived at the original library when I saw a hole in the wall. There, holding a massive bow stood a skeleton.

X

This dude was much bigger than ordinary skeletons. He had pure-white bones and what looked like a bony helmet on his head. He smiled in triumph, as he regarded me coldly.

"So," he said as if he found himself a free meal, "you're the last Terrarian in the world. You have found the secret book."

Another incomprehensible name. Great.

"Uh, hello, what's with all the name-calling?" I asked.

The skeleton laughed, if you can call it laughing.

"So careless, aren't you?" he sneered, "don't even know about your _ancestors._"

"You _do_ know them?" I asked excitedly.

"I used to, and one of them gave me _this._" He lifted his helmet to reveal a skull with a long, narrow crack running down all the way to his left eyehole.

"Ouch," I said helpfully.

The scar skelly put back his helmet, and continued. "Those creatures brought us doom, and we were always forced to hide in the shadows. My king thought it wasn't necessary, but many of the monsters went out to destroy the Users. Very seldom they succeeded, and the rest was killed, or I should say, slaughtered by humans. I, for once, thought I could make a world clean of mankind, and stepped out of the dark, for the justice of monsters. But this foolish detour has given me a permanent souvenir, a painful memory, now reminding me of vengeance on the condemned User Zeta31."

"Sounds nasty," I whistled. "Who's your king by the way?" But I thought I knew the answer already.

"The Creeper King." The skeleton snarled. "He ordered me to track you down and destroy you, and I shall do so. The last Terrarian shall fall by me, for I, the Skeleton General, leader and king of the skeletons shall exterminate all the Users in this world by the commands of the High Creeper King, and unleash my rage on the descendant of Zeta31!"

I was confused with all the long talking. "So basically, you want to kill me for your scar, and because of the order from your boss, and think you can do it because you're the king skeleton."

The skeleton chattered. "Yes, you fool. Finally you understand."

"Then you could have said like that, I mean, you would have been tired for speaking all those words, you could have just say GET OUT OF TOWN!, so why didn't you try and shorten it up, you know, get only the important info out of the whole load of waffles?"

The skeleton chattered angrily. "During all those times, you humans haven't changed a bit. Feel the wrath of the Skeleton General!" And with that, he loaded his bow and fired.

If I didn't think quickly, I'd be a hedgehog by now, but I dodged it, and said, "Gee, thanks for the offer, but I'll pass." I hoped I was polite enough, and drew my bow also.

The skeleton mafia boss jiggled towards me with his massive weapon in his hand. He chattered loudly, and a dozen skeletons came inside, ready to make me into a nice pincushion. But their boss said something else, which made them get outside again. That was said for them, since they tried so hard to get through the hole.

"I'll deal with you while my minions prepare to destroy this place," the skeleton said it with relish. "It would be quick, but I don't mind watching you suffer."

"That's nice of you," I commented, and the Skeleton General grinned horribly. I hoped he got the sarcasm: he looked pretty stupid smiling.

"So, do the monsters all have a boss or something?" I asked, as I dodged another arrow.

"They have a leader to command them into battle, yes," said the Skeleton General, parrying away my blow.

"That's cool, because I and my buddies killed the zombies' mama."

"I heard what you insolent humans did, and the Creeper King isn't pleased." The skeleton dude hissed. "The zombies are leaderless, and they are wandering around in confusion, while we Monster Allies can use some troops."

"Monsters become like that?" I asked mockingly, aiming another arrow. "Let's say the slime boss died, and does that send the slimes into such panic that they split themselves up?"

The skeleton laughed. "Foolish question! The slimes don't have any leaders: they are just wanderers, slopping around the damp caverns freely without any kings or leaders to lead them."

The giant bone guy swung his bow, and I took the advantage. I grabbed his weapon, and jumped on him, whacking and striking his head with my bow. Soon, Captain Undead was well pinned on the floor, groaning, as his dented helmet slid off his face.

"Ha, take that!" I yelled. "Can't even think, right? Boo-yah!"

Seriously, all the monster bosses had limits. They were quite easy to defeat, if you used your brain. But before I decided to get out of this freaking place, the skeleton stood up slowly, chuckling quite horribly.

"Nice work, Delta824," he spat, as he put on his helmet again. "You are brave, I must admit that, but you are also blind."

"Blind? I can see your ugly scarhead pretty well with both of my eyes, thank you," I said.

"While you were attacking me, my skeletal minions were preparing something that would destroy the Place of Knowledge."

"Place of Knowledge? What's that?" I asked.

"This, the whole area we are standing on," the Skeleton General hissed. "It is full with knowledge about the past and the downfall of the Users. It is the only place available for such information in this large land, and sadly, it will exist no more."

"Why do you tell me that?"

"Because it's no harm knowing now, since you'll die." The Skeleton General beckoned to the skeletons, and they rattled their bones excitedly as they went outside as if preparing for something.

"This whole place is wood, so lava would have no problem destroying it." The bony creature said with delight. "The Creeper King would be most pleased to hear I succeeded in my mission. If I can't kill you by myself, I'll take you down with all the houses!" He jumped out of the place through the hole.

"Hey, no fair, why are you-?" I started, but the skeleton monsters poured in those highly inflammable liquid into the room. It sizzled and burnt the floor as it slowly crept towards me.

I yelped and dodged a piece of molten rock coming towards me, and thought desperately about how to get out of this situation alive, as the skeletons were chattering happily outside, as if expecting to hear me burn.

_Think, man. Think!_ Wow, I was talking to myself. I don't know what made me, but I dug a hole in the wall, big enough to fit me in, and got out. The night air was really cool after all the intense heat inside, but I had to act fast, because the lava was spreading. I placed a dirt block right outside the hole, extended the makeshift hidey-hole slightly, then positioned myself right outside, throwing dirt blocks in the lava and yelping as if I caught fire.

The skeletons were howling in delight, as they pictured a burning body of me inside the red liquid, when the real me was sitting outside, throwing blocks into the lava, and making painful moaning sounds as it sizzled and burned, secretly laughing at the bone monsties. Lol, these dudes were stupid.

I let some few seconds pass with my hope-to-be-painful sounds and sizzling, when I decided that I should kill the imaginary me by simply stop throwing in dirt and helpfully adding an extra-long-lasting groan. It must have satisfied the skeletons, because they were whooping at their assumed success, delighted by the idea of what wonders the Creeper King might award them. I could have dodged the lava pool right in front of their eyes and making a spectacular escape, so the Creeper King can be really angry with them, but what's the fun? Leaving them to report to the Creeper King about my 'death', having that old fool find out I was still alive and breathing and as a result punishing those numbskulls would be much more entertaining. I was a generous guy, come to think of it, since I spared some of their days until the Realisation Day. So much for the reward.

I silently sneaked out, as the skeletons were celebrating by shooting arrows into the air. When I got out of the NPC village, I began to run.

I was getting hungry much faster as I sprinted, but I was determined to reach my safe zone and tell my mates about what I discovered. They would be dumbfounded.

X

I barged into my house, sending Pluto running away in panic, but I didn't care, even about my wolf.

"Oh my gosh, guys, I went to this abandoned NPC village to find more books about the Users and I found loads of them under the REAL library and I was really happy but when I got up, there was this mafia boss with the evil scar on his face calling himself the Skeleton General and I pounded him with my bow but the skeletons tried to incinerate me with lava from the blacksmith forge and I pretended to die in pain by throwing dirt blocks and went back as fast as I can." I said that nonstop.

"Man, take it easy," said Alpha, "you had quite a bit of an adventure there."

I took in a deep breath. "Yeah, and look what I've found." I placed a book on the desk, and everybody gathered round.

"_History of Minecraft?_" Omega asked. "What's it about?"

"There's this dude that tells about Users, and this is the one I've been looking for." I said.

"You went all the way there to find a book?" asked Omega incredulously.

I looked at him sheepishly. "This was worth finding it, but the place is destroyed now, since those gangsters burned it down. But I managed to nick some more." I added, and piled more books.

"Holy stone, Delta824, you're a genius," Alpha marvelled, as he opened up a book and rifled through it. "This is wonderful! We'll know everything about what happened to others of our kind."

"Hopefully, but let's see what this author has to say." I picked up the _History of Minecraft_, and read with Alpha and Omega at my side.

_We call ourselves the Users, as we are the most intelligent form of life in the world of Minecraft. We can think, build with various blocks, communicate in a form of speech, defend ourselves, and have the ability of crafting. These features have kept us alive from other fellow animals, known as monsters._

_Nobody knows how we were formed: we just came to this world naturally. Here, we made the place our home, living a quite civilised life, cooperating along with other Users. Soon, as we adapted to this environment, our species spread out all over the places, covering the main land. __Some decided to live in small isolated islands__, but no matter, we built huge buildings that lasted more than a century. We harvested our food, built our own shelters and fought monsters from Creepers to Cave Spiders, and from Zombies to Spider Jockeys. Users mined to the depth of the earth, occasionally bringing up goods such as iron or diamond. With all the available resources, __our living was quite organised and peaceful__._

_Monsters would sometimes succeed in killing one of us, and they would perish just like other animals would do, and never return. __But new Users always came to us to replace the dead__, keeping the population balanced, and slowly increasing. The rate of Users spawning were much more low than animal spawn rate, which was fine by us, since we don't want the place to be overcrowded. A User would die, but another one would always come._

_Other Dimensions_

_There are more dimensions in this world, has the discovery been made recently that Aether and Nether existed. There was also The End, but there were no humans living in there._

_All these dimensions were accessible by portals, leading us people to exotic worlds we never dreamed of. Mankind blossomed there too, akin to us; they only looked different by their outer features. They live in a very similar situation like us, except in different conditions. _

_The Aether inhabitants are known as Astrian, the People of the Clouds, or the Villagers of Laputar. They have a distinguishing feature of dark blue eyes, and wears light bluish clothes. They live in large chunks of land, or I should say, islands. Although they live in a different world, __their naming is the same as ours__._

_This world is only accessible by a portal made out of glowstone, the veil provided by water. Falling out of the islands can happen often, so the inhabitants of the Aether wear an armour made out of gravitite, __a substance that allows Users to fall without receiving any damage from it__, hence when an Astrian falls out of their domain, they don't get killed; they land in the Overworld, which is the land roamed by us Terrarians. _

_The inhabitants in the other dimension call the Nether are called the Infernosian, the Hell People, or the Undergrounders. They live in the fiery world of Nether, and are perhaps, the most threatened people in Minecraft. Monsters constantly attack, and there is no vegetation except Nether Warts. _

_Infernosians have an orange-hue skin and reddish clothes. __Most of them build villages and live in packed groups__, when some prefer to be solitary. Quite similar to us and Astrians, the Infernosians had lived in their dimension for their lifetime, just merely another humans._

_This world is connected to our dimension __by the obsidian frame portal, the veil formed by the source of fire. __The Nether is said to be buried so deep underground no Users would be able to enter by digging the earth__. The environment is treacherous, __boiling lava is omnipresent__, and fiery fiends ready to attack Infernosians__ at a moment's notice__. __Somehow, the natives of the Nether are well adapted to living in this hell__, although their population is quite low compared to Terrarians._

"Just skip to the downfall of the Users." Omega interrupted, and rifled the pages until it landed here.

_Nowadays, __the increase in the amount of monsters is quite concerning__, as more Users are being killed by these menaces. __In spite of my uncertainty with other dimensions__, __it is rumoured that our enemies have a ruler named the Creeper King__, __who appears to be the one commanding accumulating amounts of monster assaults__._

_Many had fallen; the ones who replace them are coming increasingly rarely, and the monsters are ubiquitous__, __preventing the scattered Users from reaching any of the villages by instantaneously destroying them the moment they expose themselves. The town I am living in is the biggest in Minecraft, but waves of monsters are even now trying to penetrate our borders. Our best warriors are slaying as much of the enemies as their strength would allow, but they spawn endlessly._

_I fear that the monsters would overwhelm this town soon enough; most of the smaller villages are already razed__. __According to Astrians and Infernosians, the creatures in their dimensions have increased too__, savagely attacking the inhabitants._

_It will be horrifying to think __the monsters would succeed their revolution and wipe Minecraft clean of all human races__. There are about a thousand Terrarians left in this world, and we can cross our fingers for more Users to arrive safely without being sabotaged by the Monster Allies. The army of the Creeper King is putting up a fierce fight, and we are slowly running out of men. _

_If any of future human would read this, I would be long gone, engulfed by the Monster Allies, but I want to note this to any survivors. They are the only hope. __They would be able to rouse the Users__, unite the three dimensions, and overthrow the Creeper King, __if any of the Users are left alive__. __We will be hunted down to extinction even if we try and get out of our town boundaries__. __I have convinced the survivors that it would be wise to leave our homes and go somewhere monsters cannot reach us__. Users are hiding in the _Place of Yellow Sands, _also known as the_ Island of Timeless._ There, the Terrarians would be safe from the Creeper King and any of his allies, but I am most worried about our fellow neighbours in the next dimension. Perhaps I would be able to warn and tell them to hide, until the genocide subsides, and a new User comes. _

_I hope this record would survive until the next generation, to help the new human find the rest of their kin. This would be stored in the Place of Knowledge, __a small town disguised as an ordinary NPC village__, masked from the monsters and to be passed on safely to the next User. To aid whoever will accept this quest, I have included a map made by myself inside this book to show where the hidden Terrarians would be found. The rest of Astrians and Infernosians would be revealed according to other maps and books that I have hidden in each of the dimensions. To whoever takes this perilous quest, __I can only wish them the best of luck, for it would be hazardous at best and they will likely encounter numerous deadly situations__. After I have finished writing this book, I will be on my way to warn other dimensions about the danger, __and will attempt to complete this mission myself__. If I fail, the completion of this journey would be left in your hand. Save humanity, overthrow the Monster Allies, bring peace to the world of Minecraft, and bring back the old ways of the Users!_

Omega whistled. "That sounds dangerous enough."

Delta flipped the fragile book, and a piece of yellow paper fell out. He snatched it up, and held it to the light.

It was an old map, looking as if it was made millennia ago. The lands were incredibly detailed, with every bit of sea and rivers, and the terrain leading all the way to a sandy-looking island.

"Who is the author?" Alpha asked. I flipped the book all the way to the front page, and there, in black ink said:

'_This book is written by Zeta, the 31st of his name,_

_A historian, warrior, and adventurer of the world of Minecraft.'_


	7. We Start the Suicide Mission

**A/N:**

**Hey everybody I'm back and I published a Percy Jackson Parody! Oh, yeah. I went to this mall with my family to buy my brother's uniform, and there was this Reflexology studying centre or something next to it, and in there, these weird sculptures of monsters were displayed. There was this sign with the words COPYRIGHT ALIENS on the bottom of the displays, and they looked hideous. I had no idea how these monsters were related to reflexology thing, but there were names for each one. This particular monster was really interesting, not because it had flippers, fish tail, scaly body and a face with loads of horns, but because the name tablet said: Marslion. HAHAHAHA! Get it? Marslion? Rumbleroar? I was laughing so hard in my head, because it would be strange of me to giggle madly in front of a closed reflexology centre. LOL!**

**In my server, I almost completed my/Delta824's house, and I did some Nether Brick fences for the outline for the lookout floor. But since Delta's never been to the Nether, the fences won't appear. And I decided not to build a basement because I didn't find any use for it, and we decided not to use trashcans in our village. Except those changes, the appearance looks pretty much same. I also realised that there IS a NPC village near to our REAL village, and it was really a coincidence. :O And I didn't know that there was this game called Terraria, and it is surprising that Terrarian and Terraria sound similar. Please note that I didn't take the name Terrarian from the game Terraria. Seriously.**

**By the way, there's this really funny Minecraft animation called Filfy Animals in YouTube, and I was laughing so hard about Geoff the Glitchy Silverfish. If anybody likes realistic Minecraft animation, I strongly recommend this! OMG, Geoff the Silverfish. LOL.**

**P.S. Yesterday, I had a little problem on logging on to Fanfiction, so publishing this chapter was delayed for a day. Sorry.**

**X**

Alpha198

Delta grew rigid. I didn't know why, but the author's name seemed to shock him deeply.

"The-the name," he stuttered.

"What about it?" I asked.

"When I went to the NPC village, the skeleton boss told me that it was Zeta31 that gave the long gash on his skull," he explained.

"Zeta31 was a brave guy," Omega commented. "To leave a scar on the king of the skeletons."

"Yeah," Delta agreed. "He even thought of hiding the Users from the monsters."

"Do you know what this means, then?" I asked.

"We have to wake them," Omega replied simply.

"Does that mean we have to go to this place?" asked Delta.

"Seems so," I said gravely. This sounded worse than invading a Golden Dungeon. Trust me, I did this before.

Pluto stared at us intently with his black eyes.

"Wuff!" he barked.

Delta grinned at his wolf. "Pluto wants a little adventure."

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Omega asked seriously.

"Of course, man. It seems that the fate of all three dimensions of Minecraft depends on us." I answered.

"But it will be dangerous," warned Delta, "the Overworld is full with nasty surprises."

"Don't remind me, mate," I laughed. "I almost fell out of the world before."

X

We spent the next two days studying the book and the map. It informed a lot about the Users, and it turned out that there were _female_ Users. That was really cool, because it would have been super weird if only males nominated the world. They named people like our names (a Greek alphabet and the number of times it was used before), and with the explanation, I was Alpha the 198th of the name, Omega was the 245th, and Delta was 824th. Delta and Omega must have been a popular name, since they have the biggest numbers. After the book study was done, and our head swimming with words from the _History of Minecraft_, we moved on to the map, but sadly, the landscape was the type Delta never explored.

"You lived the whole life of yours here!" I exclaimed, when Delta announced that this was an unexplored place of land.

"I made many shelters as possible everywhere I've been, but I am positive that I have never been there," Delta answered. "I had no time to go around the world, mate. With other stuffs to worry about, I made a limited amount of land to explore, and that covered more than 9,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 blocks."

"Okay, I get the general idea. So how many portions of this map have you been before, Delta?" asked Omega.

Delta hesitated for a moment, and pointed at a tiny area on the lower left corner. "About there."

I sighed. "We have to explore a completely unknown region, with only this map to guide us," I said. "This is so dangerous!"

"But we have to do this for the sake of the Minecraft world!" Delta retorted. "If we do this, we can restore the Users back to their rightful place, and we won't be alone anymore."

He had a point: I hated being alone. There was no one to accompany me whenever I took down a Slider. No one was there when I stared at the Golden Dungeon far ahead, and now I knew the whole User-business, I wondered if I had a mom or a dad. I had to have parents, because I couldn't have just spawn in a random place…can I?

"Look, mate," Omega broke the silence. "I know this is really dangerous, but we have to give it a chance, right? Zeta31 wrote that we are the only hope. I'm in this."

Delta relaxed. "Thank you."

Now that Omega was in it, I couldn't refuse it either. "All right, but don't do anything stupid."

Omega grinned. "Let's see if you become a hypocrite."

Delta interrupted. "Guys, let's just start packing up, shall we?" I nodded.

X

For a few hours, we packed things we needed, like food supplies, weapons, every kind of tools, and some building material. And of course, we didn't forget the book and map. We also enhanced the security with Delta's help. The thing was really complicated, using a large amount of Redstone dust and pistons.

After the last trap was completed (which sacrificed a wild pig, screaming all the way down to the pit), Delta closed the village gate. With a thud, the massive piston door closed, leaving us exposed to the wilderness. Pluto howled in excitement, while Thanatos scampered around.

I edged around a nasty lava booby-trap that Delta set up, and faced my friends. "Shall we?"

Omega nodded fervently. "Absolutely."

Delta checked the last Redstone wire, and grinned. "All security measures are perfect. It'll be safe during our vacancy. Well…maybe."

I clapped my hand on his shoulder. "You're the Overworld guy. It'll be fine."

"Can we go now?" asked Omega. Thanatos and Pluto were prancing around, chasing each other's tails.

"Heck yeah, mate." I agreed. With that, we walked away from the vast, black wall, venturing deep into the wilderness.

Night fell on the Minecraft world, and we were well away from the village. Every now and then, an evil spider would ambush us, and we would slice them up. Luckily, Delta had every map he owned of the Overworld, and little shelters were situated across the vast land. The nearest one was next to this lake, and the stone wall looked sturdy, with a cosy wooden door which Delta opened, allowing the inside of the hideout to come into view. Torches lit up the room, wooden planks formed the floor, and there was a crafting table, a furnace and a large chest on the windowsill. The chest was loaded with extra food, weapons and some tools that would really make this a rocking house. I turned to Delta, beaming.

"This is the most amazing shelter I've ever seen in my entire life." Delta blushed at that comment.

Omega flung himself onto a bed. "Dude!" he yelled. "This is sweet!"

"Are there more shelters like these?" I asked, while Thanatos and Pluto bounced around the wooden floor.

"Duh," was the answer, and with that, Delta approached the crafting table, and began to make something.

I was too tired to care, so I propped up a bed I brought and began to sleep. Until then, Delta was still fiddling with materials, Omega was doodling with his pick, and Pluto and Thanatos were rolling around.

The next day, we vacated the cabin quickly, and Delta reloaded our supplies, killing some cows to fill up the food cache for the shelter. After that, we kept advancing without any difficulties. Although we encountered an exceptionally smart Creeper, this didn't stop us from adventuring throughout the mainland. It seemed that monsters were using their brains a lot to finish us off, but nevertheless, this Creeper met its doom by the hands of Delta824.

The weather was perfect, as the huge sun kept shining on the sky, and I was really happy that we didn't burn up like zombies in daylight. During our travel, we learnt a lot about the Overworld thanks to Delta. This world was really different from the Aether, where the danger of falling out of the world was common, and along with the monsters too. This Overworld was perfect to live in, with no worries of floating islands (Well, some chunks of dirt were separated from the continent, but they weren't that high).

In our 4th day of travelling, rain began to fall from the sky. Our wolves got wet, and we quickly looked for a shelter, since rainy skies can turn dark. Thankfully, there was a glowing hideout in the distance, and we made a run for it.

This one was no different than the previous ones: with all those furniture and essential items stored in chests. I opened the large chest, and grabbed some cooked fish for myself, while Omega cooked something up in the furnace. Somehow, we weren't that fond of sleeping today, so we spent the whole night doing stuffs. I didn't know it that then, but this action may have saved our lives.

As I was crafting a stone shovel, a distant shriek pierced the darkness. I instantly knew from my monster study experience that it was a spider. Delta sighed, and pulled out a diamond sword.

"Come on," he said, "I don't want a big ugly spider jumping up and down outside the window."

We didn't have time to object, as Delta opened the door, and went out, fully equipped with a set of iron armour. I just drew my zanite sword and followed him; so did Omega, looking pale.

When I got outside, I saw a black arachnid approaching our base. Its pincers snapping menacingly, the spider crawled towards us and pounced. Omega gave a nice thwack and it retreated, snarling.

"We can make some bows if this guy drops two pieces of string," I added helpfully, as Delta smacked the creature right in the face.

"Yeah, but this thing isn't DYING," Delta grunted. He gave another blow, and the Stubborn Spider Who Refused to Die dissolved into white particles. Experience orbs flew to Delta, but there was only one string.

"Tough luck," Omega grinned.

Delta sighed again, and stored the string in his inventory. "And I have to risk my neck again to get the last piece. If we left it to live, it would have definitely got us by now."

I gazed at the horizon, and with a leap of delight, saw the sun coming out. We would continue our expedition again, with fewer monsters for the next day.

X

For another 7 days, we strode across the huge continent, sometimes slicing Creepers, or riding boats to obscured bits of land. Delta kept his nose well secured inside the piece of map he was holding, and kept telling us to take turns at a certain point of angle. Thanks to him, we explored some snowy lands, taiga biomes, crossed a ravine, and climbed an exceptionally large mountain.

As we got up to that huge chunk of land, Delta checked his map two times. After that, he tucked in, and smiled.

"We are here," he said dramatically. "From this point, the land is completely unexplored by me. There are walls marking the boundary."

I looked down, and saw a signpost with the words: OVER THIS WALL, THE AREAS BEYOND IS UNEXPLORED BY DELTA824

I could see that a large sea stretched across the flat world, with little bits of island sticking out. That was all.

"We have to sail across _this_?" Omega asked. "And the only shelters are the islands?"

"Yep," Delta answered. He was really optimistic nowadays. "A land untouched by me."

Now Omega looked as if he would cry. But somehow, I felt really cheerful. Maybe I'm the adventure type, wanting to wade into a land filled with monsters and other unknown dangers. We have, finally, arrived at the Unknown World, and the Place of Yellow Sands would be out there.


	8. The Abandoned Mineshaft

**A/N:**

**Now that I uploaded Chappy 7 and this, please don't send Herobrine and Israphel, Xguy110 (long story)! I spent most of my Monday and Thursday lunchtime on this story, and it's so hard to produce a lengthy chapter, so please understand if the update is late: I also stay after school in Monday and Thursday because I lose my bus, and the next one comes in about 30 minutes later, so I use this time to write fanfic (just like now!), so just know that I'm slow on uploading new chapters, okay everybody? Glad if you understand.**

**X**

Omega245

After we sailed away from the mountain, we were lost. It's sad, but true. The new map Delta brought for this unknown region was revealed only a fraction of it. He had a compass, but we won't go back now, do we? So we just travelled through the vast ocean on wooden boats.

Delta was on the lead, since he was holding the map, and we just followed him. The two wolves were swimming along, splashing water at us and chasing our boats eagerly. Every now and then, we would pass a puny island, or an underwater ravine which we mostly ignored. There was the creeper island with a whole colony of Creepers manifesting the land, so we lost the chance of resting. I'm still grateful that they didn't spot us.

Night fell, and we still haven't found any land mass to take a refuge. The three Users were travelling on individual boats in the dead of night, but we weren't exposed to any dangers, so that's cool. It's kind of difficult to travel with darkness enveloping the world, so we're just following Delta around.

We crossed an area full with squids, and I was glad that they don't wreck boats. Resisting the temptation of jumping into the water and killing them, I kept sailing along with Alpha and Delta.

An island appeared on the right side of us, which looked decent enough to spend the night on. After embarking on the shore, Delta pulled out wooden planks, and started to build a shelter. I and Alpha set up some torches around, and surveyed the island. There were some wood supplies, and some wild pigs running around. Pluto and Thanatos got out of the sea, shaking water off and looking around the island in interest. Delta continued building, Alpha chewed on a piece of cooked beef, and I soon found out that I was fidgeting with my pick without noticing.

Finally, Delta finished the shelter, but dawn was breaking, so we just stayed awake for the whole night. We updated the map, adding the miniature pixelated-island to the yellow paper, and set out onto our journey again, with Pluto and Thanatos swimming beside us.

We travelled the whole day on the boats, with Delta constantly renewing the map and checking the old one and a compass. I nearly died of the cramp in my knees when Alpha suggested taking a break.

The island we reached this time was way bigger than the previous one, with a big mountain shooting out of the terrain. Delta started the shelter construction again, and it was kind of awkward to watch, so Alpha and I helped.

This one was finished when the sun was setting, and we gathered around in the hideout, doing some 'actions' to spend our time. Alpha started polishing his zanite pickaxe, Delta pulled out a book titled _The Monster Trilogy: Fall of the Spider Jockey_ and read it, while I just nibbled on a loaf of bread.

The moon was up high, and we were still doing the same thing. Alpha pulled out his fifth purple pick (how many did he have?) to polish, but suddenly started to brood about his black moa in the Aether. Delta randomly muttered stuff like, "Die, slime, die!", "Nooo, Jeb! Don't go!", "Yeah, take that, you jerk. Charged Creepers deserve death." But the worst case was when Delta leaned forward in his book, and started laughing like hell. It was quiet, so it wasn't easy to ignore him giggling silently, muttering, "You idiot, hit a Spider Jockey with a stick? Lame! You're such a fail."

Exasperated, I threw a glance at Alpha. He rolled his eyes, and kept brooding. I gulped down my seventh bread, wondering what I should do in the midst of these people, and approached the furnace. Absent-mindedly, I started cooking up some beef and stared into the fire. The colour and the smell of it reminded me strongly of Nether, where lava spread across the field of Netherrack, and fire burnt eternally. I didn't miss that place, but the image just popped into my head. Suddenly, I realised that I left some gold nuggets behind in that chest. Shoot, why did I do that? I learned how to make golden apples here in the Overworld. I spent my whole night/the whole night time cursing myself while Alpha moaned over a bird and Delta giggled silently but uncontrollably. I was really glad when the sun came up.

We continued our journey on the sea, our wolves sticking close to us. Delta kept his nose inside the mysterious map and indicated where we should head for. The ocean stretched endlessly across the horizon, and I silently despaired on the fact that Delta was urging us forward.

It was the 19th day of travelling (probably) when we reached a huge land mass. Thankfully, Delta told us we can go over this continent, so we docked our boats and marched on with the wolves. We built another shelter on the mountain for the good view, and killed some cows in the forest for beefs and leather. After some time, the sun was going down, but we were still venturing through the unknown woods, hoping to find some more pigs to slash down. Delta set up some torches for our way back, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to my surroundings, which sadly led me down a huge ravine.

When I slipped on the edge of the ground, I was unfocused on the bottom, only staring ahead. So it would have been a nasty surprise to find me shouting all the way down to the huge gap in the land. Plunging into the darkness, I yelled in fright, wondering what the hell was going on. Alpha and Delta must have been same as me, since they too, were screaming their head off all the way down to the bottom of the chasm.

It was me who landed first on the stone floor, and the impact cost me most of my hearts, leaving only a half. Groaning, I got up, and found my mates sitting up groggily. Thankfully, my hunger bar was full, so the hearts started to fill up gradually.

The ravine was narrow, and terribly deep, which almost killed us all. Some rare ores surfaced from the wall, and Alpha's first action was to dig out an iron ore. There was no way getting out of this chasm, and I was thankful that I left Thanatos safe in the shelter. He and Pluto would probably wonder what happened to their masters. Only one narrow tunnel was the way to move on, which we did. Our footsteps echoed down the passage, and every now and then, Alpha would pull out his shiny pick to excavate a rare mineral. The way seemed endless, but there were no monsters, even though it was dark enough ahead. Delta placed some torches along the wall which was the only light source in this area.

I think we spent half of the day walking through this tunnel, and we haven't rested once so far. My feet were aching and Alpha protested for some time to sit down when Delta said in excitement, "Hey, do you see that?"

I gazed at the direction Delta pointed, and saw a dim light. Curiosity started to build up in my mind, and before anyone could do anything, I bolted towards the faint glow. Delta was coming right behind me, and the distant protest of Alpha came into my ear: "Hey! Didn't I say I needed to rest? Come on!"

But I didn't care: a light in a place of nowhere was interesting enough, and somehow friendly. It was getting closer, and closer…

And there it was: the flare produced by a single torch, illuminating the surrounding darkness. It was placed on a block of...wooden planks. I had no idea how that ended up in here to support a lone torch, but more planks and fences were in sight, leading to further identical blocks that extended out of sight. I looked at Delta for explanation, so he said, "That's an abandoned mineshaft. It's one of those structures the world randomly generates, and it's full of Cave spiders."

"Oh, yeah. Let's check this one out," said Alpha. He wasn't even scared about the spider thing. But before I could utter a single word, Alpha and Delta marched inside, leaving me baffled. I was frozen for a moment, but quickly followed them, yelling, "Guys, wait up! I'm not sitting here in the darkness alone."

We took many turns through the wooden plank area, sometimes seeing cobwebs on the ceiling. This place was really freaking me out with the dimness and little mazes popping out occasionally, sometimes leading us to an entirely new cross section. Thanks to Delta, we've been marking our trail and knew where we came from, so whenever we hit a disappointing end, we just followed the torches on our right. We repeated this pattern for about ten times, and I could tell the sun going down right above us. I don't know if wolves ever get worried about their masters.

We had walked more than hundred blocks when Delta declared there was a dungeon nearby. I thought it would be full of zombies when Delta told me that abandoned mineshaft dungeons only contained Cave spiders. I wailed out loud when he said they're poisonous.

Ignoring my whimpers and pleas, Delta and Alpha marched on, and I was dragged along, moaning every now and then.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a tough one from the Nether, but I had no idea how being poisoned was like. This alien thought really scared me, although Delta said it'll be over quickly. I wouldn't have been that twitchy if he didn't add the detail: 'it reduces your hearts way low.'

Delta took a deep breath, and slashed through the cobwebs with his sword. I could almost tell that his inventory was bulging with those strings. Not so long after we started this, our first monster customer came in. with my sword ready, I jumped to face a…small puny blue arachnid.

It was definitely smaller than normal spiders, with a body that could fit through a hole. Its size stunned me, and would have almost got me with those horrible fangs. Alpha leapt into action, and brought down his purple sword on the thing, sending it flying backwards.

"Gee, thanks, mate," I managed to say. Alpha put a thumbs-up.

The baby blue spider crawled to us, but was once again, shunned from our little society.

"_Shheaaaakkk!_" It hissed in frustration, but these guys never learn, after being hit twice on a sword. It did the old-fashion way of attacking: Charge.

The baby sprung from the ground, and was spectacularly sentenced to death by Delta. It collapsed, leaving particles of white smoke and two strings. More spiders crawled out from the cobweb bunch, and started launching themselves towards us, hoping to taste our delicious blood.

The first kamikaze was flying backwards already, but others didn't care (ignorant little gits), their scarlet eyes zoomed in on us. We spent some part of our precious life on those petty little monsters, while Alpha sliced up cobwebs to reach the origin.

We got there, all right, with that ugly spawner producing more minions per millisecond.

"Nether wart," I said randomly.

Delta giggled. "Excuse me?"

"That's kind of a way to say 'damn' in Nether."

"Oh."

Alpha boldly attacked the spawner with his exotic pickaxe, and we were unintentionally selected for pest-exterminators. While Alpha feverishly worked on the cage, we were really trying hard not to get bitten by those miserable load of bunches.

Finally, the spawner broke, and spiders stopped appearing. We would have celebrated if the last survivor didn't bite Delta.

"OW!" he yelled and killed the spider, then tottered around, looking really sick.

"What now?" I asked desperately.

All Delta did was drink a bucket of milk.

And it stopped.

Weird.

"That's-that's really AWESOME!" Alpha yelled. "Would that work in Aether?"

"How do I know?" was Delta's answer.

X

After a long time of poking around the abandoned mineshaft, I finally managed to suggest the idea of getting out of here. Before that, we met two spiders, three skeletons, five zombies and a Creeper. But this risky adventure was really worth it, because we found ourselves a bunch of lapis lazuli, a bucket, some iron and two gold ingots. I think we spent about two days in total in this gloomy maze, and thought we were really being delayed on the quest. Thanks to Delta, we retraced our steps all the way back to the entrance, and stared at the vast wall we had to climb.

"Well?" asked Delta, "let's dig."

With that, we pulled out our pickaxes, and started digging furiously, making crude and narrow stairway. It was laborious, and cost me two pickaxes, to go up that wall, even with my buddies to aid me. Occasionally, we ran into some ore, which made Alpha and Delta's eyes shine.

Night came, and we were STILL digging like hell. My arms were really aching as I broke down another stone. We did this for a while until the sun came up, and Delta shouting excitedly, "We reached the dirt layer!"

Encouraged by this news, we dug a bit faster, breaking through dirt blocks and-we reached the surface.

Alpha flopped himself down on the ground, and gasped loudly for about a minute. Delta wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "Well done, guys. We finally reached the sunshine."

"Yeah," I agreed.


	9. Zombies Break Down Doors?

Delta824

After that successful escape from the ravine, we had to go all the way back to the shelter. Twice, we encountered a creeper, and one blew up, reducing my heart to five.

"Man," I complained, "I should really get a cat."

"What?" asked Omega.

"They scare the creepers away."

"Cool."

We trod through the grass, running into a flock of sheep, and accidentally falling off from a hill. The sun was going down again when we saw the glow from the shelter. With an extra spurt of speed, we raced towards it, barged opened the door, shut it and slid to the floor. Pluto and Thanatos stared at us curiously, wondering why we were panting and being an invertebrate.

I got up, groaning, and wobbled over to the corner of the room, where I insisted to put bookshelves. There, I picked out _Legends of Minecraftia: The Golden Wool_, and started to read. Alpha and Omega goggled at me in disbelief.

"We just escaped from a ravine, got almost killed by two creepers, and fell down a hill. All you do is READ after that?" Omega asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "Well, I love to read."

Alpha shook his head in exasperation. "My brain goes haywire every time I open the Book of Lore."

I decided not to ask him what Book of Lore was. I was absorbed in the part where Notch created the Golden Sheep.

Omega ripped out the book from my hand. "Yo, we're talking to you!" he shouted, holding _Legends of Minecraftia _out of my reach, as I tried to get the book back.

"MINE!" I yelled, and this must have surprised him, because he lowered his hand, and I snatched the book from him. I retreated back to the corner, and started to read, as if nothing happened. Out of the corner of my eye, Alpha muttered something into Omega's ear, which made him nod vigorously. I didn't care. I wanted to finish Chapter 10 by day.

Sun came out, and thankfully, I finished the whole book. I reluctantly left the shelter to continue our journey, but I collected the bookshelves (Heehee).

We rode on, with our faithful wolves splashing alongside, towards the Place of the Yellow Sands. Land seemed to be more common now, and according to the map, we had to go across some other various types of biomes. I updated my other map, adding the unknown region to my record.

I was actually getting really worried about the village, even with those new security systems around it. What if the Creeper King found a way to penetrate the traps and destroy the village? He shuddered even to think about the outcome. It sounded like the dude was way bigger than ordinary creepers, and if that monster blew up, it would take the whole continent with him. But since he was the king, I doubted that he would sacrifice himself to take out the town. As I was thinking, we arrived at a whole new land mass. It seemed that the ocean stopped here, so we broke down our boats, and travelled on foot.

It was a lot more painful than being squashed in a wooden boat. We walked all day, sweating and groaning every now and then across the plains. The dirt ground was going on forever, with occasional flowers, tall grasses, trees and some animals. I was still holding the ancient map Zeta31 left us, to make sure that we weren't going the wrong direction.

Alpha was next to me, holding my other map that I was using to add the new landscape, and the urge to stash the parchment into his inventory was clearly etched on his face. The only person that wasn't bothered of heat was Omega. While we were sweating like mad, he just went on casually, as if this was a normal thing to happen. Maybe it was because he was an Infernosian. Still, it was weird.

I looked blearily at the map. It told me to go through a whole area painted in green, which I assumed to be a forest. Once I told them this, Alpha groaned, complaining about the humidity in there, but Omega didn't seem to mind, saying that he lived in hot areas for his entire life. We marched on; Pluto and Thanatos close behind, towards the forest right ahead of us.

The woods started to show as we got closer and closer: lots of birch and oak trees were visible over a small hill. This sight encouraged us, and urged us forward into the depths of the forest with our anticipated minds. The woods got thicker, and finally, blocked the view of the plains, engulfing us with trees and animal noises.

X

We ventured through the woods, climbed some hills, and ran into a skeleton that took refuge under an oak tree. This chap managed to lodge two arrows on Omega and three on me. Alpha killed it, thank Notch, but still, it was painful to heal up those hearts. I hoped that the Skeleton General couldn't sense his minions dying, or else we'd be screwed.

We killed a bunch of pigs to obtain food, and got an egg from a very helpful chicken. Well, had to admit that we killed that animal too. But it gave three feathers and two raw chicken meats: all useful for food and weapons, so it was worth it. Alpha was feeling very guilty from that incident, even though we persuaded him that it was for our own good.

"I don't think the consequences would be good," he groaned, looking helplessly at the spot where the chicken fell, dissolving into smoke.

"You'll get over with it," Omega said, slapping Alpha's shoulder. "Come on, we should get on with the walking." With that, we left the spot where the helpful chicken met its doom.

The woods went on forever. I and Alpha were dragging ourselves trough the thick trees, moaning about the heat in there, but Omega just casually went on, whistling and almost skipping. This was really suspicious, because he didn't seem to mind all the heat and moisture.

"Dude, are you enjoying this?" Alpha groaned, as he took two more painful steps.

"Well, it's like a nice morning walk," answered Omega, swinging his arm.

"Maybe we should take some rest," I said, pointing at a shade of a tree.

"Gee, I was wondering when you'll suggest that," Alpha said sarcastically.

I chose to ignore this comment, and flopped down under the birch tree. "Whoa, this is much better," I gasped.

"Come on, how about just a few more blocks?" pleaded Omega, but Alpha sat down next to me, so he had no choice but to do the same.

I pulled out a bucket of water, and drank it. My friends saw that, and copied me. Omega took a sip, then shook violently.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I-don't-like-c-cold-stuffs," he stammered.

"Why?"

"I just don't like the sensation of spreading throughout the body."

Alpha just dumped the water bucket over his head, and grinned in satisfaction.

"I love cool stuffs," he sighed. "They're just so nice."

Omega prodded the flowing water with his finger, then dipped his feet. He hissed as if he was burnt, and quickly retreated. I stared at my friends' weird behaviours, wondering why they were so different. Alpha noticed I was looking at him, and said, "What?"

"Nothing," I quickly replied, and turned my gaze to the endless woods that stretched on. Pluto scratched his ear right next to me.

We just sat there for a few minutes, daydreaming and reading books (in my case). When the sky became a little dark, I realised that we have been sitting there for the whole evening. I dragged my reluctant friends along the ground, but we didn't cover that much distance because the sun went down completely.

It didn't take long to build a shelter, since all three were building like mad. After the place was finished, we settled ourselves in the shelter, eating food or brooding. Pluto and Thanatos curled into a ball, and snoozed on the wooden floor. I pulled out my _Legends of Minecraftia: Temple of Jeb_, and flicked through the pages, absorbing the information on when the Temple of Jeb was built. Alpha chewed on a cooked chicken, and Omega dozed off, leaning on the wall.

The moon was visible from the window, and so far, there were no monster noises to disturb my reading. That was a smart thing, because if one zombie moans more than two seconds, I would have found myself bursting out of the hut, charging down the green monsters with my diamond sword. The outside was eerily quiet, which was really suspicious, because the forest had to have some sound. I lifted my gaze from the book, and glanced at my friends. Omega's head was drooping, but Alpha looked tense. He kept looking around, and when he caught my eyes, he said, "Isn't it odd that there are no disturbances out there?"

"Yeah, but maybe there are no animals around us." I resumed reading, but the paragraph about Beta24 (the first ever priest of the Temple of Jeb) looked hazy in my eyes. This weird silence was distracting me, and I found myself reading the same line over and over again. I blinked a few times, and resumed reading, but the information just didn't get into my head. Maybe it was because I lacked sleep, so I just closed the book, stuffed it back into my inventory, and stretched, yawning at the same time. That was when we heard our first ever sound tonight.

BASH.

Omega jerked awake, and looked wildly around. Alpha pulled out his sword, as if he expected this. With my sword in hand, I crept towards the door, and peered through the holes. A zombie bore down on me, raising its hand for another strike.

"Delta, get away from that door!" Alpha yelled.

He didn't have to tell me; I was already safely away from the zombie when it hurled its fist at the door, punching the wood. The door was a wooden door, so judging by the creaks from the hinges, the door was about to break.

"You didn't tell me zombies break down doors!" Omega roared, as he too, pulled out a sword.

"I haven't seen a zombie bashing down them, okay?" I yelled back. "Honestly, my village does not tolerate zombies punching down your entrance; they won't even have the chance, since they perish outside the boundary!"

Omega stopped. "Good point," he said.

The zombie raised its fist again, and drove it straight to the already battered, badly damaged door.

Oh boy, I thought, we are SO screwed.

The door blasted open, sending wooden splinters everywhere.

X

**A/N:**

**Another cliffy! I love writing cliff-hanger chapters; so thrilling, aren't they? Just for who don't know, the Temple of Jeb really exists, so I must say "I DON'T OWN THE TEMPLE OF JEB!" And plus, zombies only punch down doors in Hard/Hardcore mode, but I just said it for the storyline. OMG, I JUST PUBLISHED MY FIRST CHAPTER OF THE STORY IN FICTIONPRESS!**


	10. Swear Words and Monster Crowds

**A/N:**

**Hey guys, just been watching Minecraft Dad on YouTube. I decided to write this story, because it was bothering me the whole time. Thanks for your awesome comment, KatyKat321! People just like you make me happy while writing. Well, here's your next chapter!**

**X**

Alpha198

We were stunned for a moment, staring at the broken door. The zombie who did it marched inside, looking triumphant. Most encouragingly, the dude wasn't the only one.

"HOLY ENCHANTED DIAMOND PICKAXE, IT BROUGHT ITS MATES! GO DIE IN AN ABANDONED MINESHAFT!" Delta yelled at the top of his lungs, and continued to stream out words that I presumed to be swear-words in the Overworld.

I couldn't help myself, but smile, as Delta screamed, "MUTANTS! DIRT BLOCKS! ROTTEN IRON! BROKEN SHOVEL! OVERGROWN SILVERFISH!" making the monsters quite puzzled.

Thanks to Delta, the monsters were at bay, but I doubted it was because of Delta's furious face, and suspected they were taken aback how a human can say stuff continuously in a very loud volume. Omega was hanging his mouth open, and mouthed the word, "That's the worst cussing I ever heard."

I gave him a sceptical look, and he mouthed, "I've taken a leaf out of Delta's book."

Delta was still insulting the zombies at the top of his voice. "-BEDROCK! ECTOPLASMS! CORRODED GOLD! GET IN THE VOID, YOU-YOU-"

"I think he reached his maximum potential," I said. Delta wheeled around.

"OF COURSE I HAVEN'T! I WAS SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT-HOLY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NOTCH, HOW DARE YOU SHIFT YOUR CONDEMNED FOOT, DON'T YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO MAKE THAT DOOR?"

"4 seconds," Omega whispered, making me giggle. Delta ignored him.

"CHARGED CREEPERS! VILLAINS! SQUID-BRAINS-"

"Let's just fight them, Delta, rather than trying to subdue them by yelling," Omega said reasonably, placing a hand on his shoulder. Without waiting for his answer, he charged, brandishing his sword. The zombies greeted him with enthusiasm, with their arms darting forward, ready to pommel him. I stepped in, pulling my zanite sword, hacking the zombie's hand. It growled in frustration, and turned its attention on me instead.

I quickly dispatched the zombie, and looked at the threshold, where five more zombies were pouring in. Omega killed one of them, and Delta finished one too. Only three more zombies were in the shelter, but two more joined the fight. Delta fumbled for his bow in his inventory, and accidentally, dropped his book.

One of the zombies stepped forward, and in my opinion, purposefully placed its great, ugly right foot on Delta's book.

That did it. That was the final straw. The colour in Delta's face drained when he dropped the book, but seeing his precious reading material getting trampled by a common zombie had set the Trigger of Extreme Violence off. Omega glanced at me, and I nodded, clapping my hands over my ears, but didn't entirely cover the sound.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU COMMON MONGREL? YOU SHOULD BE GREATFUL THAT I DIDN'T DECAPITATE YOU EARLIER! YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE, MISTER, AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO _PAY_ FOR IT!" He swung his sword at the accused zombie, who looked extremely stumped.

"FILTHY-DESPICABLE-ACCURSED-BEAST!" he said, with every sentence per slice. After the last sentence, the zombie disintegrated, off to the hell with the moral stamped firmly across its mind: Beware the User Delta824, especially his book.

Delta spun towards the rest of the crowd, his eyes blazing. He stepped forward, raising his sword, daring them to tread his book. I was only able to see one difference on his book: the corner of page number 237 was slightly bent inward.

"COME ON!" he roared, "WANNA CHECK OUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TOUCHING THIS BOOK? ANYBODY WANT TO GIVE IT A GO?"

A zombie stuck its foot out, and lightly prodded a page.

The little action set Delta quite beside himself. "UNGRATEFUL BRUTE! THANKS TO _HIM_, YOU'LL ALL _SUFFER._" He said the last word nastily, that all the zombies flinched. He darted forward, swinging his diamond sword, roaring. "NEVER-DO-THAT-AGAIN, YOU-PILE-OF-FILTH!" He did that one-sentence-per-slice thing again, chopping through the thick crowd of zombies. Pluto stared at his master, speechless, as Delta whirled around in the green mass of monsters, capable of killing them without any help.

"Wow, lucky that we didn't do it," Omega mouthed to me: we still had our ears covered, and needn't pull out our sword, because Delta was cleaning up for us. He furiously whacked the zombies, all groaning in protest.

"LEARNT NEVER TO TOUCH DELTA824'S BOOK AGAIN, DID YOU, YOU LOT? HA!" he spat, but there was no one to answer: every zombie was reduced to white particles and rotten flesh, with experience orbs littering the floor.

We removed our hands, with awed look on our faces as Delta tenderly reached for his book, and smoothed out the bent corner. "Sorry about this inconvenience," we heard him mutter to the book. Omega twirled his finger around the side of his head. "I'll make sure _nothing_ will do more harm to you." With that, he tucked the book back into his inventory, and turned to look at us.

So here's the basic summary of the scene we were looking at: Delta, standing in the midst of rotten flesh, with experience orbs flying towards him, and the last white dust evaporating from the wooden floor, where there were the remains of the wooden door scattered all over, and us (that is, me, Omega, Thanatos and Pluto) looking dumbstruck at Delta. Delta raised his eyebrows, and we clamped our mouth shut.

"Next time if we are in danger," Omega whispered in my ear, "we'll just throw one of his books into the crowd. He'll demolish it." I tried hard to keep my face straight, and Delta scowled.

X

The rest of the night was pretty boring, except the part where Omega slipped his head off a little table, banging on the floor. He was quite disgruntled afterwards.

Delta fashioned a new door ("5 seconds," Omega muttered to me), and fit through the frame.

"Next time," he grumbled, "if I have any, I'm making an iron door."

The sun was coming up from the horizon, and we left the shelter, with the image of swearing Delta deeply embedded in our memories. Delta looked annoyed on how we kept recapping the awe-inspiring moment, and told us to shut up about it. Well, I was planning to record it on a spare book, because I remembered every single word he spoke that night.

Our spirits were high up; Delta was happy of succeeding to save his book from what he described as a ferocious barbaric crowd of brainless monsters, who lacked on spotting a prized literature, but in our case, were enthralled by Delta's outstanding performance in stringing swear-words together. We skipped through the woods (I even forgot to complain about the humidity), ready to attack any sort of hostile creatures we encounter. But the only things we saw were two cows, a sheep, some tall grass, and three pigs.

Delta was high on killing-power, so he had to spend it on those innocent mobs to stop his hand twitching towards his sword. This was excellent, I thought, we have a killing machine that would protect us for the whole journey.

When the day was almost to the end, Delta was back to normal, although he was a bit hasty on building the shelter. This one was near to the pool of water we found, because I insisted that we should keep our temperature 'low'.

While Delta and Omega were safely indoors ("COLDNESS!" Omega yelled when I asked him for a swim), I was dousing myself in that cool liquid with the moon high up. I seriously hoped no monster would ambush me, because Reason One: I wasn't bothered to pull out my sword, and Reason Two: Attacking an unready User was just plain evil, especially when that person was swimming.

I could see Omega's horrified face through the shelter's window, as I stuck my head out of the water, splashing about. I saw him mouthing the word: "How is he doing that?"

I grinned, gave him a thumbs-up, and dived back in. Omega shook his head in disgust and wonder, and retreated back to Delta's side, where he was reading his precious treasure. So I just spent most of the night in that pool, having the time of my life. The only moving things around me were just animals and my mates inside the shelter.

The moon was high up, when I decided I should go back, but a shriek filled the air. Recognising as a spider, I pulled out my zanite sword, and surveyed the ground. Delta and Omega were emerging from the threshold, armed with a weapon each. More shrieks followed the previous one, and they were definitely getting closer. Delta readied his bow, and Omega raised his sword.

Suddenly, red eyes began to shine from the forest, and more than twenty spiders crawled out, snapping their pincers menacingly. We leapt forward, and slashed at the army of spiders, swinging our arms madly.

Somewhere right to me, Delta cried out in pain, and was followed by Pluto's barking. His barking soon turned to whimper, as the spider turned its fang on him.

"Leave him ALONE!" Delta bellowed, killing the spider with a single shot from his bow. He tried to take Pluto back inside, but was stopped by another massive spider, which seemed to have bit Delta in the arm.

Omega was no better, as he was fending off the spiders from the entrance, and has received some nasty cuts. Thanatos was helping his master very hard, but was getting the damage too.

So we spent the whole night killing the spiders until sun came. The spiders seemed to have decreased a bit, but that crowd never gave up on us even when the sun was up. That was really strange, because unprovoked spiders shouldn't attack during daylight, but there they were, shrieking and jumping at us, trying to get some flesh off us.

"Really got into us, haven't they?" I grunted, bringing down the sword on the spider, killing it. "Maybe this is the price of killing an innocent chicken."

"WILL YOU DROP THAT CHICKEN FOR NOTCH'S SAKE!" Omega roared, as he too, finished the occupied spider.

The sun was high up now, and the last spider when down with its final shriek. We collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath. Delta and Omega fed their wolves some rotten flesh, which they accepted gratefully.

"D'you reckon the Creeper King sent those monsters?" Omega asked, wiping sweat off his face. "It's not coincidental: last night, a horde of zombies invaded the shelter. Maybe the Monster Allies really know what we are doing."

"I dunno," said Delta, "but I'm worried about my village if that's true."

"Oh come on, you placed down all those booby traps around it," I said encouragingly. But Delta still looked uncomfortable.

X

Four, tall figures appeared at the hill. It was night time, and they surveyed the black wall surrounding the village with interest. The tallest figure spoke, "Are you sure it's that one?"

The second-tallest one chattered. "Yes, my king. One of my trained spies reported to me."

The tall figure hissed softly. "Excellent. Now, we proceed."

They descended the hill, arriving in front of the huge piston gateway. Moonlight shone on their faces, revealing four monsters, all of them much bigger than any other of their kind. The tall creeper hissed again, and a silverfish leapt forward.

This silverfish was definitely four times bigger than normal silverfishes. Its body gleamed of sliver, more brightly than any other silverfishes, with moonlight reflecting upon the surface. It hopped forward, scanning the area. Then it gave out a squeal, bringing three silverfishes up to the front.

Everybody watched in silence, as one of the silverfishes crawled on to the stone pressure plate. The floor dropped, sending the silverfish straight into a pit of lava.

"A pity," the Creeper King said, "the humans underestimate us."

The next one was suffocated to death by a pile of sand raining downward. It let out a pleading squeal, before it dissolved into nothing. The last one was shot by rows of dispensers shooting out of the wall, arrows embedding themselves on the ground and the silverfish. The Creeper King observed the revealed traps, and said, "Well planned, Delta824, but you still hadn't tricked me. Your servants have proven worthy, Argentum," he said the last sentence to the enormous silverfish, who bowed.

The tall skeleton chattered, beckoning an enderman to the front, placing dirt blocks over the lava hole. The monsters passed it silently, and stopped right before the gate. The third-tallest figure observed a Redstone circuit, and shrieked to the skeleton. The Skeleton General chattered again, and a skeleton darted out, stepping on a pressure plate. Instantly, pistons moved in, squashing the skeleton, killing it.

The Skeleton General stepped forward, and pressed the button on the wall, and stepped back, as the piston door opened up. A smile crept up the Creeper King's face.

The monsters stepped through the enormous threshold, and surveyed the village. To their surprise, the village was empty. Lights glowed, but there were no signs of three Users in the area.

"Search the village," the creeper snarled, "quick! Or I'll tear out your limbs."

The monsters spread out, breaking into buildings and searching it with painstaking effort, but nothing was found.

"It seems that they have embarked on a quest," the Skeleton General whispered anxiously at the Creeper King, as one of the skeleton scouts reported no User was to be seen.

"Fool," the Creeper King growled. "They have Zeta31's book in their possession. The Terrarian escaped from YOU and your lot, while I spoke to you about the seriousness in the mission. Haven't the punishment taught you enough?" The Skeleton General cowered at his king's furious look.

The Creeper King abruptly turned to the gigantic spider. "Have you sent your minions all over the land?"

The spider nodded fervently. "Of course, my king. I have recruited the cave spiders too."

The creeper nodded in satisfaction. "Good, at least the Spider Queen has more brain than you, skeleton." The skeleton went white in the face.

"Come!" he barked. "Gather your troops! We have no more business in here! We must work hard to foil their pathetic quest, make sure they don't reach the Unknowable Place and bring back the Users." The leader of the monsters bowed, and turned to the army.

The Creeper King turned his blazing look towards the wilderness stretching outside the village. "I'm coming for you, _Users_," he snarled, "You weaklings will all suffer the wrath of the Creeper King. May Minecraftia never rise again, and no human shall ever walk the land of the Monster Allies!"


	11. I HATE THE NIGHT!

**A/N:**

**OH NO DAMMIT THE SKYRIM THEME SONG IS STUCK IN MY HEAD!**

**Sorry, I've been practicing it on piano for a few days now, and I grow restless when I don't play it. It's really good actually, and I really hope that I can upload a video of me playing Skyrim theme….Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**P.S. Sorry for the late updates: I had to make an e-book of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for IT, finish a page for my Geography, do my usual works, practice for my performance, and prepare a PowerPoint about Isis for Classical Civilisation, plus homework during Monday/Thursday lunchtime. Sorry!**

**X**

Omega245

I yawned, and stretched my arms. It was midnight, and we were safe in a newly built shelter in the midst of thick woods. Nothing exciting has happened so far, as my friends were either reading books or daydreaming, with no monsters outside. I scratched my head, and shuffled through my inventory. I brought up pieces of Netherrack that happened to occupy a space of my inventory, and stared at it, old memories washing up to my mind. I wasn't that fond of Nether, but since I spent most of my life in there, it was hard to ignore the empty feeling creeping up.

The monsters seemed to ambush us when we were least expecting them. We ran into a couple of nasty monster crowds after we encountered the spiders, but the nastiest case was a horde of skeleton charging out of the woods, brandishing bows and firing them. You know that being hit with an arrow isn't a pleasant experience, but we were there, fighting the skeletons with loads of arrows lodged onto us. It was a REAL pain pulling them out.

Not long after, more than thirty CREEPERS scuttled towards us, when we were enjoying the moonlight, having a nice little conversation. About half of them blew up, destroying the shelter we were staying in, and the rest of the half got killed by us. They almost killed me too, because after the creepers were wiped out, I saw my health being depleted all the way down to one heart. Thankfully, because wolves don't attack creepers, Thanatos and Pluto were relatively safe, except that incident with the skeleton and some spiders a few days later.

Last night, another army of spiders streamed out of the woods, biting and shrieking at us. It took a night and half of the day to finish the crowd, and when the sun was high up, we were really irritated, steaming and insulting monsters at the top of our voices.

"That spider almost cut my hand off!" Alpha screamed when the sun was up, and everybody got out of the shelter, showing a nasty red cut across his wrist.

"The skeleton turned me into a hedgehog!" Delta roared, massaging his shoulder furiously.

"And the creeper almost killed Thanatos, plus me!" I shouted, pointing at my wolf, who looked pretty shaken up after the house blew up.

"I'm not kidding; these monsters are up to something!" Delta said furiously. "Monsters have been attacking us more than three times in a row, and they are smarter than the usual!"

"WHAT? They weren't like that?" I asked, horrified. The Creeper King must have implanted an intelligence chip or something in their brains to make them that smart. I thought I'd never see the day of creepers actually thinking to go around blocks.

Delta nodded. "Of course man, I've been studying the ways of monsters behave ever since I saw one of them and none of them were actually like this! Are the monsters from your dimensions smart?"

I shook my head, and so did Alpha. "No, they are just like you describe. Bunch of miserable flopping losers," Alpha muttered, but I had the impression he was talking about something like magma cubes.

Delta fumed. "This creeper guy will pay for it. Nobody messes with Delta824 and LIVES."

"That's the spirit," said Alpha.

I looked up to the sky. It was almost noon, judging by the position of the sun. I sighed, wondering what dangers were sharpening their swords for us. It was really unfair, because how are you supposed to relax in the middle of the woods when monsters popped out every hour or so? I was sick, really sick of this stupid forest. Sick that monsters have a way to sneak upon us, and sick on every single thing about this forest. The temperature was nice, but the density of the trees weren't my type. I grumbled all the way through the woods, criticising about trees needing some pruning. Delta stuck his nose back again in Zeta31's map, and Alpha trod through the grass, complaining about high temperature.

Again, nothing was special, except me almost falling through this random hole in the ground. This random sheep pushed me to the hole, so after I managed to regain my balance, I slaughtered it at sight.

"MEEEHH!" the sheep bleated, dropping two pieces of wool at my feet, dissolving.

"Serves it right," I muttered, picking them up. My temper was high up because of the ambushing monsters and annoyingly thick trees. I mean, I was fascinated by the vegetation in the Overworld, when the only thing I saw in the Nether were mushrooms and Nether Wart. But trees had a blooming population, so seeing them over and over again was quite boring, plus, seeing them altogether in a massive area was definitely flaring my temper up. I didn't know why, but I had a sudden desire to burn them.

The walking took forever. My feet were aching, and the others looked like they'll die any second. The wolves weren't different, either. Thanatos' tongue was lolling down, whining and whimpering all the time. Pluto was the same, except his tail was low. Delta didn't have much of doggy food, so Pluto had to stay miserable the whole time.

Night fell again, and we finally got the chance to stretch our legs on the ground. This time, since we were so tired, we built a crudely-shaped shelter: basically a square made out of cobblestone and a door. We dashed inside, and slid down the wall, panting.

Alpha chanced a glimpse outside through the hole in the door. "So far, nothing hostile hasn't arrived. Yet."

Delta was so exhausted that he didn't even bother to pull out _Legends of Minecraftia: Mystery of the Eye of Ender_, which he had been longing to read for the last two days. Pluto whined for food at his master, but Delta shook his head sadly, and Pluto retreated to the shadows, skulking.

Thanatos curled into a ball right next to me, and drooled over the grass floor (Delta didn't care about the flooring this time), possibly dreaming of chasing an ocelot. How do I know? He yowled in his sleep, writhing and wagging his tail in excitement, occasionally slapping my face with his hind legs.

Pluto watched me sympathetically, as one of Thanatos' leg managed to hit my face again. I pushed the dog far away from me, who continued kicking, whining and stretching his body to the limit. I glared at him, rubbing my face. This dog had a serious sleeping problem, that it was even violent in dormant state. Alpha stared mindlessly to the space, not caring about single thing around him. Delta finally buried himself in the book, completely ignoring Thanatos' whimpers. He occasionally read the quotes out with his own additional words, such as "_The first Enderpearl was obtained by Upsilon12, who transformed it to the Eye of Ender, making him the first crafter of Eye of Ender. _Pfft, all you need is some Blaze powder.";"_Past Users have mysteriously disappeared while following the trail of the Eye of the Ender, and never returned again. Thus, the Eye of Ender was considered dangerous. _Most likely. Ha!"; "_An adventurer named Tau23 had located the portal to the End via Eyes of Ender, but never returned to the Overworld. _That's because he had a poor sense of navigation."Etc.

I stifled a yawn, boring the soul right out of me. Thanatos was still doing his sleep exercise, Pluto was snoozing on the grassy floor, Delta was criticising lines from the book, and Alpha was sleep talking.

When I say Alpha is sleep talking, he's literally talking to someone in his dream world. First, he started off as a mumble, like "Nasty bits of buggers.", but this soon evolved into a very audible sentence, that every word came into our ears: "Hey you use hacks! Cheater! We have to play a fair game, and what are you doing, ref?"; "You cheeky little rabbit, wait till I get my hammer on you!"; "Dammit, dammit, dammit, WHY did you have to cash out that moment?"; "You inferior swets, yield glowstones!" and so on.

Delta didn't seem to care about Alpha's loud lines, as he too was cursing and criticising in audible volume. So it was torture to me, as I had to spend the whole night listening to Thanatos' yowls, Delta's cursing, and Alpha's lengthy speech about how stupid cockatrices were.

X

Delta stretched, and yawned. "Good morning, I spent the whole night reading the book, and I'm _so_ tired."

"You can say that again," I said quietly. Alpha jumped violently, as I emerged from the shadows.

I was a real mess, all right. My eyes were puffy and red for the lack of sleep I got, and I have been beating my arms up to resist the temptation to strangle Delta, shake Alpha violently, or blocking Thanatos' air supplies. Thanks to that, my arms were scarlet, with extra aches all over them. Shadows under my eyes were visible, and I looked as if I survived an air raid from Zephyrs.

Delta goggled at me. "What happened to you, mate?"

I glared at him in return. "I wonder what the result is when there are two Users all talking loudly right next to a person who wants some peace and quiet, plus a wolf kicking that person's face whenever silence happens to take place."

Alpha didn't seem to get the point. He yawned again, and said, "That sounds nasty, Omega."

I glared at him too.

Delta frowned. "I don't remember shouting out loud in the dead of night."

"Oh really? Then I wonder where I heard this from? '_It was told that Nu29 successfully managed to trick an enderman into a sand trap with water in it, therefore obtaining an Enderpearl for an expedition team, who attempted to reach the End. _So? They died a gruesome death.'"

"You remember all that?" Alpha asked in wonder. "Amazing, man."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" I yelled, frustrated. "Delta kept doing that for the entire night, and you don't know how annoying it is to listen to that lecture!"

"Sorry man," said Delta sheepishly.

"Alpha's no better," I muttered, and Alpha jerked his head up.

"Wha-when did I do that?" he spluttered.

"While you were sleeping." I grumbled. "Must have had a nice sleep, eh?"

Alpha chewed a piece of bread thoughtfully. "No, not really."

Before I can reply, Delta opened the door, and said, "Well, I'm leaving. Hurry up, will ya?"

We had no choice, but to follow him, while Alpha and I bickered all the way through the woods about the sleep talking.

We marched on for the rest of the day, occasionally running into a mob of spiders and creepers. We left the spiders alone, since we wanted to avoid danger as much as possible, but sadly, this didn't apply on creepers.

Three creepers emerged from the woods, snarling and crawling towards us. We took one creeper each, and finished off without any massive destruction to the environment.

Delta pointed out directions as we delved deeper into the forest. It was really depressing to see the sun going down, because the forest was crawling with monsters nowadays. Alpha moaned as he watched the moon coming up from the tall trees, but Delta completely ignored him, still reading Zeta31's map as he travelled farther. The forest was unusually quiet again, which was not a good sign.

Suddenly, Thanatos and Pluto stopped in their tracks, their ears pricked up and looking tense. Not shortly afterwards, sounds of bones clicking together filled the area.

I knew what they were: skeletons.

Damn.

Skeletons were one of my most hated monsters in the Overworld. Just hearing them chattering made me nervous, so when the sound came nearer, I was trembling all over.

An arrow flew from the trees, nearly hitting me in the head. I yelped, and pulled out my sword. Delta prepared his bow, and Alpha pulled out a bow that was curvier than Delta's.

"What is that?" Delta hissed, looking at Alpha's bow.

"It's a Phoenix Bow," he answered back. "Sets target on fire."

I kept staring, searching for any sudden movements. Then, a skeleton walked out of the woods.

This one must have been really stupid, because it didn't even last 5 seconds thanks to Delta's quick firing. Right on cue, more skeletons burst out, firing arrows at a surprising speed. Sadly, I got some hits, and so did the wolves. We were really hopeless of winning this, as about thirty skeletons surrounded us.

This was a nice way to die, I thought, I mean we were on an important mission to save the world, and this would end just because of some stupid brainless undead.

I braced myself of getting pawned, when a skeleton nearby got hit by an arrow. It whirled around to the direction it came from, but was quickly slain by two more arrows. Three more arrows whistled through the air, and caught three more skeletons, provoking them.

We were caught by surprise, seeing the army of skeletons failing. Nobody but skeletons was able to shoot arrows in this world, and almost all Users were wiped out of the universe. Still, the sudden aid boosted us up, encouraging to fight back.

This helper was really good at archery, because after 3 seconds, about a quarter of them died. The rest of them searched for the attacker, but the searching quickly ended, as we finished them too.

I don't know how long it took to kill off all the skeletons, but they all died in the end, spraying the ground of experience orbs and items. We completely ignored this, and stared at the direction where the other arrows came from.

From the shadows, a humanoid figure came out, clutching a bow. I was once again, shocked to see _another_ User. This dude looked older than us, burly and tall, but otherwise than that, seemed to have a kind nature. He looked oddly familiar.

Alpha jumped back in surprise. "Who-how-what the heck?"

Delta stared at the newcomer. "Another User? Impossible!"

The guy raised his eyebrows. "Hey, I'm real."

I just decided to start the conversation politely. "Hey, thanks for saving us. I'm Omega245; the others are Delta824 and Alpha198. What's your name?"

The dude looked at me. "I'm Rho115."

X

**A/N:**

**SORRY FOR ENDING THIS AS A CLIFFY! I KNOW YOU GUYS MUST BE SICK OF GETTING CLIFFHANGERS, BUT I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WON'T BE LIKE THIS!**

**When I'm done with this story, I'm planning to make a wiki about the Minecraft Chronicles series. Maybe I'll add screenshots of the real things in gameplay, or the character designs I drew. I just hope I'll quickly finish this one so I can move onto the second.**

**P.S. I have to prepare for this story competition thing in my school, so the next chapter would be late. I'm planning to write about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea because the theme should be LOST. BOOHOO! AND 1000 WORDS ARE THE MAXIMUM! DAMMIT, I NEED MORE WORDS FOR THIS STORY: HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITE ABOUT THE **_**NAUTILUS **_**IN 1000 WORDS? XC**

**P.P.S. I wrote part of this in Malaysia because my family came here for vacation.**


	12. Rho115's Story

**A/N:**

**THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHAN KYOU SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS! XD I SPENT A HELL LOT OF TIME ON THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, AND IT WAS MORE THAN SATISFYING TO SEE ALL THOSE NICE COMMENTS ON THE REVIEW PAGE! I'M REALLY HAPPY THAT MY LONG WORK DIDN'T GO IN VAIN! OMGOMGOMG Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

**P.S. Check out Xguy110's Minecraft Adventure! I'm one of the characters in there, introduced as Delta824, and there's another character with the name Alpha198!**

**P.P.S I created a wiki about this story, and I'm currently working on Argentum's sketch, so if you want to have a look how he looks like, you can regularly check the site! **

**X**

Delta824

I stared at the User, trying to take in the event of what just happened. I mean, we knew there were other Users than three of us, but we never thought of just one User living alone in the wilderness. Alpha had an awed look on his face, while Omega looked somewhat happy.

I finally managed to move my mouth to form the word: "Hi."

"Thanks for saving us from those skeletons," Alpha blurted out.

Rho115 shrugged. "You're welcome. I was about to kill those damned monsters down anyway. I hate all monsters. Especially _creepers._" He said the last word contemptuously.

"What have you got against them?" Omega asked.

"Tell you later," Rho grunted, sliding the bow back to his inventory. "So, what are you young kids doing out in the woods? Dangerous times, these days. I was almost sabotaged by some spider jockeys a few nights ago."

"We-we are on a quest to find the Users of the Overworld," said Alpha.

"Are you, now?" asked Rho, raising his eyebrows. "Well, you found one a few seconds ago, so does that satisfy you?"

"No, I mean, the whole load of them," I explained. "The Terrarians are concealed somewhere in this mysterious location, and finding them would save the Overworld!"

Rho looked at me, frowning slightly. "How about the other dimensions? What about the Users inhabiting Aether and Nether?"

"They are in the same situation, but we have to-"I started, but Rho cut me off.

"I don't mean that. What are you going to do about Astrians and Infernosians?" he asked impatiently.

"We'll find them eventually, but they aren't in immediate danger, are they?" Alpha asked, a little uncertainly.

Rho sighed. "I wish that was true, but there are more dangerous monster kings and queens out in those two dimensions, and a boss in the End."

"The Ender Dragon," I said quietly. "Yeah, I read about them in legends. But does that mean the Terrarians are not the only ones to be alerted?"

"Sadly, yes. You'll have to hurry finding the Overworld Users; otherwise the others will meet a terrible fate."

Omega seemed genuinely confused. "Look, who are you, and how come you know so much about this stuff? If you know all this, why don't you go searching for them?"

Rho made a face. "I wish I can, but I don't know this place where the Terrarians are hidden, and the monsters really want my blood."

"Why, did you commit a crime?" Omega teased him. Rho ignored him.

"You guys are brave, but the Creeper King is undefeatable by some three young Users!"

"Actually, we're thirteen," Omega pointed out.

"No matter, I'm nineteen, and even _I_ can't face the condemned creeper."

"Actually, we know what we're doing, because we have a map from this guy called Zeta31." I drew out the sheaf of parchment from my inventory.

Rho must have read a lot of books; because he paled the moment his eyes zoomed on the map. "How do you have that?"

"I dunno, I just robbed an NPC village and found a book written by this Zeta dude. This map was with it." I shrugged.

"That's not any map," said Rho hoarsely. "It's the Tabula of Lutum."

"A what?" asked Alpha.

"The Tabula of Lutum is a legendary map containing ALL regions of the Overworld," explained Rho, "the map was said to expand endlessly to show the entire world of the Overworld, and also the region where the reader is seeking."

"Wow," said Omega.

"The Tabula of Lutum is the greatest map ever existing in the world of Minecraft, along with the Aether and Nether map."

"He wrote two more?" I asked, astonished.

Rho nodded. "The Tabula of Nubis portrayed all islands in the Aether, while the Tabula of Ignis showed the vast land of the Nether. The three Minecraft maps have been missing for about a century, and so did Zeta31."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"From what I heard, Zeta went to the End to conquer the Ender Dragon, but never came back."

"Harsh," Alpha commented.

"How do you know all about Zeta31?" I inquired.

"Because Zeta31 is my ancestor," Rho simply replied.

"Dude, that guy is your ancestor?" Omega asked, with an awed look on his face.

"Yeah, I knew that since I was a young kid," answered Rho.

"Wait, when you were a kid, were there any other Users than you?" asked Alpha.

Rho's shoulders slumped. "Heck yeah, there were loads. My family lived in a huge city with most of the Terrarians in the world. Some Users went out to rural areas for some peace and quiet, but other than them, almost all Users lived in cities. Well, I loved to explore, so I wasn't home almost every day."

"So what happened to all those Users?" Alpha asked.

"That will probably relate to my early life with the Users," said Rho. He sighed deeply, and sat down on the floor, looking thoroughly depressed by something. We sat down too, looking expectantly at him.

X

"When the world was inhabited by Users," Rho began, "everything was all organised. Monsters came out occasionally, but nothing so devastating happened. The world was at peace, and everybody was happy. Some people had superpowers, like controlling water, earth, air and fire. They were the rulers of the three dimensions, and they were called Praeceptors.  
>"The Praeceptors of the Overworld were called Neptunes, whom had the power to control earth and water. Praeceptors of the Aether were the Jupiters, having the ability to control air and weather. The Vulcans were the Praeceptors of the Nether, with pyrokinetic power and controlling lava. Only the Praeceptors were able to lead the Users, and those families passed down the authority of ruling to their children. We were perfectly happy and fine with the governing system, since all the Praeceptors lead the world in peace.<br>"One day, the monsters began to plot revenge on the Users, seeking a way to destroy us. Nobody knows how, but monster leaders began coming out, teaming up to form the Monster Allies. This happened throughout the three dimensions, and eventually to the End. With all of them combined, the Monster Allies launched an attack on the Users. We fought back hard, starting a massive war with so many bloodsheds. This war was going on in all three dimensions for a long time, so it was pretty devastating. A long time ago, Zeta31 urged some Users to go into hiding, but this project was soon stopped, when the Creeper King almost killed the group of Users and Zeta was forced to move onto other dimensions.  
>"I was six when the war was coming to an end. Just like normal days, I was off exploring, discovering new lands every now and then. My parents were in the city, defending one of the last places the Monster Allies didn't take over. Before I left the city, my mother was expecting a baby. Well, that was big news for me, since I grew up with the War raging on. At least, I was going to have a sibling during those harsh times.<br>"While I was continuing my expedition, occasionally running into villages trampled by the monsters, or spreading words of the War, I heard the monsters were heading for the city where my family was. This meant all the other places have fallen, for my city was the place where Praeceptors were commanding the troops. So I travelled day and night back to my village, hoping to arrive as quickly as possible. During my travel, I did indeed run into some intelligent monsters, which managed to slow me down. Still, I arrived at the city in the end.  
>"But when I went through the city gates, everybody was gone. Houses were on fire, and items of dead Users littered the floor. Remains of slain monsters were visible, but it seemed that everybody died. My family's house was destroyed, and I was able to see my father's diamond sword on the floor. There wasn't a sight of my parents or my sibling, but I knew they were all killed. A sign propped up on the ruins told me the Creeper King killed them. From that point, I vowed to kill the Creeper King to avenge all the Users in the world, so I've been travelling towards his headquarters. And, my story comes to this point, where I meet three more Users from the skeleton crowds." He concluded, pulling out a magnificent diamond sword from his inventory. It looked like it was enchanted.<p>

"Is that an enchanted sword?" asked Alpha.

"Yeah, has Sharpness V on it. It belonged to my father, but since he's dead… well, it's now mine," answered Rho.

I felt bad for this guy. He lost his family so young, which I guess it's worse than our case. I mean, we didn't even remember our parents' face, but this guy was older than us that time.

"We have this Tabula thingy, so I guess we know where we are going," said Omega abruptly. "Zeta told us the place of the Creeper King is shown on this map, so if you want your revenge, you can come with us. We're going to bring back the Users anyway."

Rho's eyes lit up. "I was lonely anyway, and if I can avenge my family… well, coming with you guys will make my life a hell lot better. Thanks!"

"No problem," I said, grinning. This guy was definitely an awesome guy, and if my feelings were right, this dude had the possibility of becoming my book-criticising partner for the whole journey.


	13. We Kill some New Friends

**A/N:**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS! I LOVED READING THEM! XD**

**Okay, one day, me and my brother had a lengthy conversation about food chains, while I was doing my art homework. I had a picture of a blu-tack spider that time, and I started to have a simultaneous shout-out of food chains starting from the blu-tack spider ending up to a chain-reaction between communism and imperialism. I don't know how on EARTH I progressed that far, but it definitely involved a blu-tack poacher, sparrow, eagle, Stalin, Trotsky, Lenin, some Russian farmers, Csar Nicolas the Second, grizzly bear, KGB, FBI, CIA, and some police officers who all seemed to attack each other, finally reaching communism and imperialism. It was SO random. I'm saying this because I don't want to forget this moment how I explained to my brother about the chain reaction between communism and imperialism.**

**As the exams are approaching, I guess I'll have a hiatus for that period, but I'll also try my best to write some more chapters.**

**P.S. You can see images of characters I drew in my wiki, which the link is on my profile page. I changed Alpha and Omega's appearance from the Author's Note in Chapter 4, so please note that. Feel free to contribute, but please do not grief it. And no spoilers.**

**X**

Alpha198

It had been three days since Rho joined the group. He was awesome, since he was much older than us, and more experienced. But sadly, there were negative sides too.

"He was stupid, really. I mean, who would barge into a skeleton dungeon completely unarmed?" asked Delta. We were in another shelter made somewhere in the woods, and Rho and Delta were having a heated discussion about this random character from _Dungeon Encounter Part 1_, who bravely went into a dungeon without a weapon and died.

"Exactly my point! The idiot didn't even last a whole minute!" Rho agreed.

"Come to think of it, are these stories even _fiction_?" said Delta.

"I'm positive that the _Dungeon Encounter_ series are all real."

Omega was staring into empty space, mindlessly fiddling with what looked like a very old stone pick. Thanatos had his ears down, and was silently eyeing Pluto, who kept scratching himself for the past few hours. And me? Well… I was playing with a piece of Holystone in my hand.

About an hour passed from that point, and it was probably the first time I was ever glad to hear a shriek from the woods.

Omega impaled the floor with his pick, and leapt from his seat. "All right, let's go beat some arthropods up!" he yelled, pulling out a stone sword. Honestly, I never saw this guy using tools made out of diamond, or at least, iron.

Pluto stretched his body, and wagged his tail, his eyes shining with anticipation. Thanatos stood up, and looked at Omega expectantly.

Delta swung a diamond sword in his hands. "Well, gotta kill more, I guess."

Rho nodded, pulling out his glowing weapon as well.

With the zanite sword in my hand, I promptly went up to the door, and opened it.

X

The first word that came out of my mouth was: "DAAAAMMMIIIITTTTTT!"

Nobody in their right mind would just stand there quietly and say "Why, hello there, you bright fellow," when a hideous black spider lands on their head, screaming for bloody murder. So, I did the obvious thing: I yelled my head off, detaching the spider from my head and causing it to fly away, snarling and snapping its pincers. It pounced on me, but was quickly killed by Rho's dangerous diamond sword.

"Thanks man!" I said, grinning. He gave me a thumbs-up.

About four more spiders crawled out of the woods. Not bad, I thought, there are less of them today.

The spiders jumped towards each of us, and we started to battle one separately. Rho simply destroyed his opponent with that sword of his, but me and Delta managed to receive a bite each.

Spider Number 3 dissolved into white particles, leaving us with heaps of experience orbs/strings/spider eyes. We entered the shelter to continue our peaceful night, which was again, seeing Delta and Rho complaining/the wolves writhing in their sleep/Omega swinging his battered pickaxe.

I slumped on the floor and fished out a piece of cooked chicken, mournfully thinking about my moa while chewing on it. That poor bird must be wondering where the hell I was, standing in the light angelic stone house all by himself. Man, I even left all those eggs he produced in that chest of mine (oh, did I mention moas produce offspring no matter what sex they are? I guess not)

I watched in dismay as Omega pulled out a stone AXE, which seemed a lot more dangerous than a pick. He twiddled with the handle, wearing the same expression he did previously. Rho and Delta were sitting on the floor, pulling out and reading two suspiciously similar books, occasionally cursing under their breath - but this peace (should I call it peace?) didn't last long.

"SSHHEEEAAAAAAAKKK!"

I sighed, face-palming myself. What was I thinking? Every attack had more than ten monsters each time.

Omega tossed the axe and stabbed the floor, scaring the Zephyrs out of Pluto, who happened to be snoozing one block away from where the tool landed. What had gotten into him anyway?

"Can't we just barricade the door?" I asked. I really hated going out there, nothing but my zanite sword in hand.

Rho shook his head. "The spiders seemed to attack at daylight nowadays, and you wouldn't want a hairy spider sitting on the roof."

I sighed. "I suppose not."

With that, we got out into the dark world AGAIN.

X

This time, I didn't scream or even thrash around wildly. I just gasped, "Cackling cockatrices, what in the name of Silver Dungeon IS THAT?"

The spider sound wasn't a false alarm, which I can't say is relieving. But the biggest problem was the dude sitting on it.

A skeleton was probably taking its pet spider on a joy ride or something, because that guy was just sitting comfortably on its arachnid automobile. I've never heard of this kind of mutation before, but an equation started forming in my mind, and it didn't help a bit: Spider + Skeleton with bow=Real ugly monster mutant with attack power x2.

"A Spider Jockey," Delta gasped. I turned around, giving the what's-that look.

"A rare combination, but it's basically a skeleton sitting on a spider. It can climb and shoot, which I say it's pretty bad."

Since the skelly was sitting on the spider, it was slightly taller than us, but still, it was terrifying to watch that skeleton aiming its arrow at us, while its irritating live-cart snapping its pincers.

The skeleton turned his arrow point at ME, and grinned, as if saying "Had a nice life, buddy? Shame it's gonna end now." But before it could skewer me, it was hit by surprisingly fast multiple arrows and crumbled; its companion looked a bit confused.

Rho lowered his bow, and said, "We still have to kill the spider."

The very monster turned its hatred-filled eyes, probably screaming mentally "That dude sitting on me was going to a tea party, and you ruined our days!" Then pounced.

If I didn't have my zanite sword ready, I would have already died. I impaled the spider and hurled it away from me. It attacked again, but died with a satisfying "SLASH" from Omega's sword. I hoped the spider would have an Underworld tea party with its buddy, and the monsters from the Place of Eternal Damnation.

I turned around to congratulate my buddies, when another shriek came out from the dense woods. A jiggling sound followed immediately afterwards.

"Uh oh," muttered Delta. He gripped his diamond sword tightly. Rho raised his glowing weapon in a defensive way, and Omega looked as if he'd rather take 10 furious Endermen on his own than to face more Spider Jockeys.

From the woods came three (yes, exactly three stupid skeletons riding three stupid spiders, with three stupid bows in their hand) Spider Jockeys, probably furious with us for killing their tea party friend. They shot arrows at us, which we dodged easily. Rho impaled a spider from under, leaving the skeleton quite alone. That dude was slayed by my awesome purple sword a bit after it set foot on the ground.

The two of them charged with their battle spiders screaming for blood. Delta and Rho took care of a combination, while Omega and I defeated the last one. Omega sighed in enormous relief when the spider died.

X

The next day, we kept travelling. We ran into some of those bright creatures wanting to have our blood, but easily defeated them. Delta collected some woods, Rho made a new bow, and I killed a chicken during our journey, so I can't say it's exactly fun.

The sun was high up, and it was when Delta announced they were near the end of the woods. Omega looked really optimistic from that point.

But when we got out of the forest after so many days, I cursed, and said, "Oh, Notch, _why?_"

The forest stopped from that point; thank Jeb, but a flat plain covered of snow stretched endlessly over the horizon. No trees, no monsters, just a flat tundra biome.

X

**A/N:**

**Just wanna say, sorry for the late update, and HUNGER GAMES MOVIE IS AWESOME. :DDDDDD**


	14. We Battle a Psychopath Spider

**A/N:**

**THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! XD You guys are awesome. I won't talk much, but if you want to see some character sketches I drew, go to the wiki link on my profile! :D**

**X**

Omega245

I cursed. A flat tundra biome was the last thing I needed in the world, plus some useless heap of dirt. The worst thing was: I HATED coldness. I didn't know why, but I just detested the chill in the atmosphere. And snow-SNOW OH THE HORROR!

Even Alpha seemed fed up of huge biomes. He glared at the white land, probably cursing in the inside. Delta looked expressionless, surveying the land and comparing them to the Tabula of Lutum. Rho did the same as Delta, eyeing the white bit on the map.

"The tundra isn't that big," said Delta. "It should approximately take three days to cross it." And he marched off, with the map still in his hands. The rest of us followed.

Man, it was TORTURE. Walking through snow wasn't really my type. It almost killed my feet. But the others looked fine. Since Delta and Rho were Terrarians, they didn't seem to mind the natural temperature of their world. Alpha loved cold temperature, so he wasn't that affected by the climate. Thanatos and Pluto had thick pelts, so they followed us without any complaints. Maybe I was the only one freaking out.

The sun was setting, and this was when the most horrifying thing of the day happened.

"Oh what do you know, it's snowing," said Rho, as he looked up at the sky.

I quickly followed his gaze, and swore. "Holy Blaze Powder, what in the name of Jeb's rusty sword IS THAT?"

"It's snow." Delta answered me, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Normally in the Overworld, it snows in cold biomes."

Alpha nodded, looking at the snowflakes curiously.

I was panicking. Snow? SNOW? Piles of that white fluffy horrifying substance raining down from the sky were too much for me. It actually snows in this world? Oh gods, I just stepped into my personal hell. Why, Jeb, I thought, why did you have to unleash the terror on me?

"You all right, Omega?" Rho asked.

I gulped. I wanted to say "Heck yeah, any freezer available?" but I was too stiff. I only managed to nod my head, putting the most confident look I can muster on my face.

"Um, guys, the sun is setting," Alpha pointed to the red sun sinking downwards. "We should probably build a shelter."

We obliged, pulling out building materials and preparing to build. A shriek came from the distance, signalling the usual monsters.

I switched into a stone sword, and scanned the landscape. Nothing seemed to be out there, but I swear, I heard a spider from somewhere.

Suddenly, without warning, a ring of spiders surrounded us, advancing forward slowly, forcing us to the centre.

My shoulder bumped on Alpha's as the spiders closed in around us, crawling steadily. The wolves barked at them, but they didn't seem to get scared. When the nearest arachnid was about 3 blocks away from me, it stopped. The spiders around us backed away a bit, making some space between each of them. A large path formed between two spiders, and I considered making a run for it. But before I could put it on action, a large spider came through the way, filling in the space.

This dude was very different from ordinary spiders. The size of it was about four times bigger than normal spiders. Strange black patterns were visible on its already black body. The pincers were black, and looked sharp enough to skewer me easily, but the worst part was the eyes of the spider, which was blood-red, all eight of them glowering at us. Its minions stood well away from the giant spider, keeping their pincers down, which was highly unusual.

I must admit one thing: I was fed up with spiders. Sure, they give strings and spider eyes, but it's not that delightful to encounter them more than three days a week. "Really?" I said exasperatedly. "Some sleepless spiders at morning, skeletons go-karting on them at night, and now – this."

The giant spider clicked its pincers. "Yes, fool. It was I who sent them. A pity they failed."

I was quite taken aback. The spider was a _female._ I never thought there were female spiders in this world, since all of them were aggressive and very ugly.

The spider continued. "Now the matters are deteriorating. You Users have progressed alarmingly fast than we have anticipated, and even the Creeper King senses the danger."

Alpha snorted. "Well, thanks. I hope that was a compliment. Why isn't that creeper here? Is he too _explosive_ to travel this far?"

The demonic arachnid hissed angrily. "Do not mock the Creeper King in my presence! He is the rightful ruler of the world of Minecraft, and will finish the race of Users, starting with you and your friends."

"Wow, I'm very scared now," I said sarcastically. "And uh, how do you have the right to boss us around?

The spider's eyes glinted maliciously, as she raised herself a bit higher. "I am the Spider Queen, leader of all spiders, Weaver of the Web of Death, The Eight-Eyed One, and the Venomous Spider. As the most loyal servant of the Creeper King, I shall personally destroy all of you!"

Delta bravely put his hand up in the air. "Well, from your previous speech, I heard that the Creeper King wanted to kill us, not you, or is it just my misunderstanding?" I whistled. He had the nerve to play dumb in the most dangerous spider in the world.

The Spider Queen snarled. "No time to play jokes, human! The king has given permission of killing all Users to his subjects, and I'll be the one to do so. I am different than that pathetic skeleton."

"Uh, is that the Skeleton General?" I guessed, as there were about more than one billion skeletons living in the Overworld.

"Precisely, and he had become more pathetic and unreliable, after his failure at killing you." The spider gestured at Delta.

Delta frowned, as if he was recalling a memory, and snapped his fingers, saying, "Ooh, yeah, the dude came for me at the NPC village in the dead of night with his minions. I pawned him straight in the face anyway."

"You fought him?" asked Rho, wide-eyed.

"Well, partly," said Delta, "but I used my brain to escape."

"Enough!" the Spider Queen snarled. "I will finally have the honour of killing the last Users of Minecraft! I shall prove to the Creeper King that I'm his most loyal servant!"

I secretly said we weren't the last Users in the world of Minecraft, since I can't reveal our plan to the demonic spider. Man, monsters were _so _dumb around here.

Alpha's face brightened suddenly, as if he discovered something in this dangerous moment. He whispered to me from the corner of his mouth: "Keep-them-busy."

I had no clue what he was thinking, but I decided to do what he asked. "So, uh, the Creeper King had been sending monster bosses around the world for us?"

"Yes, fool. He is determined to rid the Minecraft world of any human inhabitants," the Spider Queen hissed. I quickly glanced at Alpha, and saw that his hand was inching towards his pocket, as if he was going to pull out something. "It had been going on for centuries, destroying villages one by one, slaughtering every User encountered. Zeta31, that piece of scum was smuggling Users into the Unknowable Place, but the mighty king of the Overworld succeeded in stopping the treacherous actions committed by that Terrarian."

Wow, what a racist.

The Spider Queen went on, even if I didn't ask her to. "The other dimensions were taken care of the native monsters, thank goodness, but the Creeper King has suspicions of Zeta31 doing the same to the Astrians and the Infernosians. Nevertheless, the Monster Allies managed to wipe out the last standoff of the Terrarians: the Capital. The Neptune family was killed, and justice was brought to the land. For many years, monsters triumphed, living peacefully in the world free of any human beings. But after you four Users were discovered, the situation is getting worse every day. From now, this nonsense will bring to an end, and all the monsters of Minecraft shall remember my name!" And she reared up, snapping her mandibles.

Quick as a flash, Alpha pulled out something, and shot the spider with it. A projectile hit her square in the body, sending the queen of the spiders sailing away.

As if on cue, Delta and Rho whipped up their bows, firing shots at the spiders surrounding us, demolishing the crowd. I had a feeling Alpha told them to do that while the spiders were occupied.

"RUN!" Alpha yelled, as he shot more projectiles at the Spider Queen. I didn't ask questions. I ran.

We were running to a massive snowy mountain that was about 20 blocks away. I could hear the Spider Queen screaming at her minions, "Don't let them get away, you fools!"

A hole was visible from the distance, big enough for Users, but not for a kleptomaniac female spider. We ran towards it, plunging through the snow while shooting the army of spiders with arrows. 10 blocks away. 7 blocks away. 4 blocks away…

Alpha used his weapon for the last time, killing a spider that was dangerously close to us. We got in the hole, and quickly blocked off with any blocks we had in possession. I filled in the last gap, and heard the spiders ramming onto it.

I collapsed on the floor, wiping my forehead. "Dude," I gasped. "That was the best plan you ever came up with."

"Thanks," answered Alpha. "I actually didn't think it'll work."

"What the Nether was that weapon back there?" asked Delta.

"Oh, it's the Hammer of Notch," said Alpha, glancing at the thing in his hand. "It's really awesome, and I've been saving for emergencies, but I thought it was be a good time to use it again."

"That thing just saved our lives," said Rho.

The spiders were trying to break the wall, while their queen was ordering them in a furious voice.

"We've gotta escape this place soon enough," said Delta, glancing at the makeshift wall.

The Spider Queen's maniacal voice was audible through that wall. "Hide if you can, Users! But sadly, spiders never miss their prey, and nobody escapes the Spider Queen alive!"

X

**A/N:**

**Another chapter during exam preparation week! Man, it was so hard thinking up of ideas. Thankfully, over the time, I planned out the entire storyline, so I don't think I'll suffer that much anymore. Oh and I finally uploaded a video of me playing Skyrim theme on piano, so if you want to see how I look like, follow my channel link on my profile! Have a nice day! My exam starts next week!**


	15. Escape From the Spider Queen

**A/N:**

**YAY EXAM WEEK FINISHED! XDDDDD I think I screwed most of it up, but this chapter is up for celebration! HURRAAAY! Here you go, to those who waited so long for the next one!**

**X**

Alpha198

So we ran away from the spiders and barricaded ourselves in a hole with tons of them knocking at the door (I mean, literally). And guess what? We're still here.

Luckily, Delta had cobblestone in his possession which were all used up for enclosing the hole. The spiders were going to have a big trouble breaking through it, even the Spider Queen.

We were discussing our way out in hushed tones, just in case the spiders were able to hear us. Judging from the movement, there were about 200 spiders out there, not counting the Spider Queen. We had to get out of here fast before the wall was blasted open.

"We'll have to dig," said Rho. "I mean, that's the only way escaping this space."

"I agree," said Delta. "But which way should we dig?"

"Well, we can just drill straight through the mountain," Omega suggested, pulling out his pickaxe.

"But monsters might be waiting for us at the other end," said Delta.

"Hey, let's just dig down, and work our way out from there," I said in a reasonable tone. "We can resurface whenever we want to, after getting well away from this place."

"But what if there ARE monsters on top of the resurfacing place?" asked Omega.

"We'll have to try." I pulled out my zanite pickaxe, and sighed. It was about to break, and that was the last pickaxe I had in my possession. I cursed when I saw that I didn't have enough supply for even a wooden pickaxe. Since when did I become so careless?

"Um, does any one of you have a spare pick?" I asked. "This purple thing is about to break."

Delta handed me a stone pickaxe.

I looked at the state of it. Hmm, it degraded halfway, but this'll do.

We all raised our pickaxes, and dug a hole straight down, about 3x3 blocks big. Finally, I started to get some cobble.

When we were about 10 blocks down, Rho made a crafting table and a furnace out of it, stashing some cobblestone and coal into the product and watching it burn.

"What for?" I asked.

"We'll have to seal the hole off before the spiders come in," he explained, as he drew some clean stone out of the furnace. He closed the entrance with 9 blocks, and kept placing more down until we were in a 5 block tall space, the camouflaged ceiling fitting with the surroundings.

"That should make her give up," Rho muttered, as he surveyed the stones. "There's no way she's going to dig up the whole place."

"Good idea," said Delta. "Now, we move on." He dug to the opposite way we entered the mountain, and the rest of us followed his lead.

As we moved on, the spiders' shrieking seemed to fade away. We kept digging like mad, with the wolves covering our backs. Once a while, we put down some torches to light up the damp tunnel. Only the sounds of our footsteps and digging through stones were audible in the hole.

We took a break after we dug about 30 blocks away from our starting point. I collapsed, searching through my items for any food. Nope, none on hand at all. Bouncing sheepuffs, I was stupid. I should have gone hunting when we were above.

The others seemed to have ran out of supplies too. Rho had a piece of bread, so we shared a chunk of it each, while searching for any sudden disturbance in the tunnel. The wolves lied down, their ears pricked up to pick up noises of any monsters. Apparently, the Spider Queen failed to search us. I would have given anything to see her enraged expression when she lost four Users just one block away from her ugly black face.

But as I finished my last bit of my bread, a thought began to form in my mind. So far, me, Delta and Omega met the Zombie, Delta met the Skeleton General, and all of us met the Spider Queen, barely escaping. If monster bosses were popping up from here and there, I dreaded for the fact that there would be more on our way. The Creeper King might be more dangerous that I have anticipated, as he was sending his subjects all over the world, searching for four outlaws, that is, us. If there were Endermen boss or silverfish boss just waiting happily to rip our throats out, I couldn't think anything more depressing than that.

And oh-wait, if there were bosses in the Overworld, did that mean there were monster kings and queens in Aether and Nether? If they were really there, how come I didn't see any of them? I swear, Aether was full with monsters that would love to beat me up, and if there were beings more powerful than normal ones, I have been living in a place so dangerous for any living thing to live on.

After a minute or so, we got up, and continued our excavation. I dug and dug until my stone pickaxe broke. I sighed, and pulled out the nearly-dead zanite pick, and continued my path.

About 5 minutes later, that dude also cashed out. That was when Rho suggested of going up a bit. We were fed up of digging forward, so no objections came out. Omega drilled forward along with Delta, and made a stairway. But the terrain must have been higher than our starting point, because the two of them took ages to arrive at the surface.

"Finally!" said Omega, as sunlight came through the hole. He stuck his head out to see where we were, and yelled. "SMOKING BLAZES!" he swore for some reason that made me jump.

Some scuffling sounds and hissing were to be heard above, followed shortly by the sound of blocks being placed down. Down came Delta and Omega, looking shocked by something up there.

"Creepers right on top of us now!" Delta explained. "We have to move on quickly, or-" The rest of his explanation was drowned by an explosion.

A lunatic of a Creeper must have committed suicide or something, because the next thing we knew, creepers were coming down from the ceiling, their evil faces glowering at us. I didn't hesitate, and drew my zanite sword. Dammit, it was almost dead too. I attacked the Creepers anyway, fending them off as the rest were hastily blocking the hole on the top.

Omega placed down the last block, and we were left with eight angry Creepers ready to detonate themselves for us. I could see the team was as badly equipped as I was. I even doubted we'll win this battle. But again, Delta was good at combat, Omega was pretty darn fast, and Rho was excellent at archery. All I had was a half dead purple sword. We attacked them anyway.

Four Creepers were quickly shot down by Rho, and two of them disintegrated by Delta's diamond sword. Omega and I each took the remaining ones, and managed to slice them to bits. So much for the Creeper King's elite assassins: All they do is hiss and scuttle around.

Omega looked at his stone sword sadly. "Damn, this one is my second-last weapon. We're running out of supplies."

"We'll have to go up again eventually," Rho commented. "But let's just go as far as we can go." The rest of us nodded in agreement, and pulled out our pickaxes.

I don't know how much more we dug, but when my borrowed pickaxe was almost breaking, Omega suggested of going up again. So we started heading upwards, crossing our fingers for safe exit.

This time, it took longer than our first try, because my pickaxe broke again, leaving me with nothing to dig. So I fell back with the wolves, following the other three as they dug through the stone wall, eventually reaching the dirt layer.

Omega swapped his battered pickaxe with his shovel, and broke through the dirt, checking the surroundings. He came down again, and said to Rho and Delta, "Uh, you guys are the Terrarians, so maybe you can explain what the hell that is." The two followed Omega, with a confused expression on their faces.

When Rho checked, he scowled, saying, "How the hell did we end up here?"

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

Delta sighed. "Check for yourself." I did, going up the stone stairs and poking my head out from the ground.

What came into my eyes was continuing greenery filled with tall trees and vines. Everything was vegetation around here, adding some chickens up at the trees. I had no idea how they ended up there, but the trees were nothing like I have ever seen in my life. Logs were thicker and longer, stretching right up to the sky. The leaves above obscured most of the sunlight, which would have been the reason of the dark ground.

"Welcome to the jungle biome," said Delta bitterly.

X

**At a land far, far away from where the Users are:**

"You WHAT?" the Creeper King exploded (not physically), hissing and spitting madly, as the Spider Queen cowered in his shadow.

"I-I tried my best!" she stammered. "But the Astrian had to pull out an ancient weapon!"

"How can you lose four Users trapped in a small space?" he hissed dangerously, moving closer and glaring at the spider's eight eyes. "How, in any way, can they evaporate through thin air?"

"I swear by my fangs, my king, that they just disappeared when we broke through the wall," she protested. "We tried digging up the whole place, but there were no proof that they existed!"

"Idiot!" the king screamed. "They know how to conceal their escape route! You should have dug up the whole chunk, even if it takes all of your minions to do it! I trusted you, Queen of Spiders, that you could do better than the White Archer."

"I did!" the Spider Queen said. "I managed to trap all four of them-" But the rest of her words were drowned by a venomous hiss from the Creeper.

"YOU DID NOT CAPTURE THEM FAST ENOUGH! YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED THEM ALL IMMEDIATELY!" the Creeper King shouted. His malicious black eyes burned with fury, filled with hatred and rage.

The Spider Queen threw herself forward. "Forgive me, my king!" she wailed at the Creeper's feet. "I know what hideous crime I've done! I sincerely regret my actions, and I shall do anything to make up for my stupidity! Just give me one more chance, o great Creeper, just one more chance! Think what I have done for the Monster Allies many years ago!"

The Creeper narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" he sneered.

"Please, king of the Overworld," the spider pleaded. "Do you not remember the time I led my army into the Capital? Do you not remember when I found out the location of the Neptunes? Consider my past actions and forgive my wrongdoing, my king!" She continued to wail and.

The Creeper King seemed to think for a moment, considering her words. "All right," he spat. "Just one more chance, spider. I'm only doing this for old times' sake. Do not disappoint me again."

The Spider Queen bowed numerous times. "Never, my king!" she promised. "You are most merciful! I shall do my best to fulfil your plans!"

"Good," he hissed softly. "But I cannot trust you anymore with the task of finding the Users. You have proven to me with your failure tonight." The spider shrank back to the shadows. "Instead, I shall choose another servant to station at their destination."

"The Skeleton General?" asked the Spider Queen, a note of jealousy in her voice.

"No, of course not! He failed to do what I set him. I will send out my most powerful and dangerous servant!"

The Spider Queen trembled in fear at those words. "A-are you sure, my king? Is it that urgent to send out _him_?" she stammered.

"Do not doubt my judgement!" the Creeper King roared. "Come, my lieutenant!" he barked at the shadows. "These are your orders: Rally your troops and head to the desert. Ambush them and make sure you kill them. I will not be disappointed anymore."

Laughter boomed in the dark room, filled with delight. "Of course, my king!" the resounding voice said. "I shall do everything to end their miserable lives!" The voice cackled again, echoing throughout the cavern.


	16. In the Temple of Notch

**A/N:**

**First of all, I've gotta apologise for the long wait, and there are reasons behind it, like for instance, me using up my lunchtime to spend it with my leaving friend, or preparing her leaving gift. TheReaderOfFanFic said I don't need to apologise for late updates, but I'm doing it anyway for the sake of Senturian and other people waiting this chapter. I sort of squeezed my brain to extract these ideas, so it took me ages, and got distracted by my Story Notes (which are 24 pages long). I apologise again! Ugh, I had two operations on my tooth to dig out my infected nerves. Bleagh, terrible. Anyway, I have to say that I don't own the idea of Temple of Notch, although I would have thought up of it eventually, but the designs are completely from my imagination, not like good people getting gold and bad people getting incinerated. On that final note, let's continue!**

**P.S. This is kind of a fill-in chapter, so the action will come out two or three chapters later. You have been warned.**

**X**

Delta824

It's been four hours since we arrived at the jungle biome. I was never in here, because I never found one near my home. Books only told me about this weird place, but now, seeing it in live was much more fascinating. And quite annoying.

The trees were really cool, because this meant we had a hell lot of wood supplies. Other than that, the greenery was pretty irritating for us. I mean, ferns and grasses grew all over the terrain, including occasional vines coming down from the trees. Stupid chickens fluttered around, tempting me to slash at them.

It was really hot in here and it was Alpha's turn to complain about the temperature while Omega's mood began to go up. But the humidity still bothered him.

The wolves didn't fare well either. They looked really tired as they tried to catch up with us, and I couldn't blame them. Wolves were adapted in cold biomes by having thick fur and all that, so having an extra-woolly coat that you cannot take off would be torture in hot places.

Suddenly, I realised I didn't look at the map since we arrived in this place. I checked the Tabula of Lutum, and my eyes widened. We were far off course, and the approximate location of the Place of the Yellow Sands (I mean, it would have been stupid if the location was exactly imprinted on the map. The monsters wouldn't have struggled to find it) was quite a distance from our position. Little yellow dots suggested that the desert biome was in many small pieces, but it was near to a huge chunk of land, which also happened to be made out of sand.

Anyway, we were walking through the vines, running into some animals in unexpected places. Once, I saw a cow standing on leaves of a tree, yelling its head off. I killed that dude, because we were short on food supplies. Thankfully, it dropped two pieces of beef and leather, which were all contributed to our well-being. Omega killed a pig, gaining two pieces of pork. We picked a random place, set down the furnace, and began to cook our scores.

While we were doing that, the sun was going down the horizon. Alpha and I built some walls around our place, protecting from any hostile mobs out there. After that, we sat down, and consumed the food we managed to collect.

When the sun was completely down, all the animal noises stopped, leaving us in an eerie silence. It kind of creep me out, because it reminded the day when everybody went silent, and monsters invaded our shelter. Pluto looked at me worriedly, probably suspecting of another monster wave. I didn't know much about jungle biomes, so I just hoped that this was a regular routine in this hot place, and everybody would go to sleep at night.

Still, arriving at a jungle biome had some positive sides too. We had plenty sources of wood and food, which improved our life greatly from our digging journey. We managed to outsmart and escape the most dangerous spider in the world, and I was ready to bet that she gave up. Or else, she would be here right now, screaming her fangs off.

So far, no noise hinting a monster invasion was to be heard from the silent woods. We started to doze off as the wolves kept guarding. Still, I felt uneasy about this unusual night. It would be fantastic for a monster ambush on 4 tired Users and 2 wolves.

X

That night turned out NOT to have any attacks, raids, battles or whatever you might want to call it differently. So, we decided to start our journey at dawn, giving us more time to walk. We were yawning all the way, rubbing our eyes all the way through the jungle. I kept looking at the map, making sure we were on the right track. We were going to get out of this hot place at the end of today in this walking pace. About 5 chunks were ahead of us, and after those, we'd be out of this weird biome.

The jungle was very eerie in dawn too, but there were more light than night. Even the air seemed to be cooler, which was definitely an improvement. We trod through the tall grass, occasionally stumbling into some random ferns growing in random places. Trees frequently got in our ways, which was the most irritating part. I mean, the logs were four times thicker than normal ones, so we had to move more to get around the trunks. Vines weren't helping either. Long ones were draped on tall trees, and even came into our eye levels. Omega got so irritated he ripped out any vines in his way. At least that gave us a clean path.

The sky was turning blue when we moved on about a chunk. We still had to go through four more, but that was only estimation, not the exact distance. I just hoped there weren't ambushers of the Creeper King waiting for us at the other end, because that would pretty much suck.

When the sun was to be seen, sounds of animals were to be heard again. I must admit I was relieved when I heard cows mooing in the distance. I didn't know how to explain it, but I just felt more relaxed. The others seemed to feel the same way as I did, including the wolves. They barked excitedly, probably expecting more food supplies. Pluto's eyes zoomed in on a passing chicken, and looked at me.

"Go ahead," I said, and the wolf immediately jumped into action. He pounced at the defenceless bird, and turned it into a nice little piece of raw chicken. Somehow, he swallowed that in a gulp.

Thanatos seemed jealous by the fact that only Pluto got to get the prey, because the moment Pluto swallowed down his food, Thanatos leapt from his spot, sniffing the area for any other animals he can consume for himself. Surprisingly, he appeared to have picked up a trail of some unfortunate animal, and bounded off to a direction.

"Whoa, where the heck are you going?" Omega called after him, but Thanatos kept following the invisible track, checking his route from time to time.

The rest of us had no choice but to follow him, as Omega would never let his pet wolf run away alone.

We almost lost sight of Thanatos when he jumped into an area filled with ferns and tall grass. When we got through it, Thanatos was wrestling with a _cow_, trying his best to transform the animal into a piece of beef. He succeeded in the end anyway, as he proudly chomped down the meat with his jaws. Pluto whined, probably saying, "I only got a chicken, and he got the whole COW. This world is so unfair!"

Omega walked towards Thanatos, who was still licking of the remains of the beef. "Dude, don't ever run off like that," he said.

While he was lecturing his wolf, I observed our surroundings. Suddenly, a piece of something grey came into my eyes. I took a closer look, and realised it was a cracked stone brick. I looked around, and saw more of them. Seeing them in a jungle biome was weird enough.

"Um, guys?" I called out. "There are some stone bricks here."

"That's a cracked stone brick," said Rho, as he touched it. "It's odd to be in here."

"Did any of the Terrarians have building made out of these in jungle biomes?" asked Omega.

"Hmm, I don't know much about those, but I heard that there were temples made out of stone bricks," answered Rho.

"Can't hurt to confirm it," I said. "We might get into some shelter." So we started off to the direction where the stone bricks were continuing to stretch across the land.

That thin line of bricks soon turned into a road three blocks wide, leading off to a place somewhere behind those thick vines coming down from jungle trees. We got past the obstacle anyway, after a surprise attack by a chicken in a random pool of water. When I collected a feather and a piece of chicken, I looked up and gasped.

A huge building was standing upon the jungle land, thickly covered in vines and grass. Some blocks were mossy, which I guessed were mossy stone bricks. It was pretty impressive, let alone the size and the design. Huge pillars of cracked and mossy stone brick supported the gigantic roof of the building. The way those pillars and stairs were positioned reminded me of an architecture I read about.

"It's a temple," said Rho in awe, as he stared at it. "I never thought I'll get to see one."

"Did people build temples in jungles?" asked Alpha.

"Some did, but they were quite rare," said Rho. "All temples were dedicated to Notch or Jeb, the two gods of Minecraft. According to all the records, there are only 6 temples of Notch or Jeb throughout the Overworld. But I thought the Creeper King destroyed all User-made buildings."

"Maybe they cannot reach the jungle," I suggested.

"Um, let's check this one out then," said Omega. "They might have some information that can help us."

So we entered the temple. Simple as that.

X

The temple's interior was dimly lit by some torches, and very spacious, as not much objects were taking place in there. Some record-keeping shelves were to be seen, and three desks were positioned at the edge of the room. All the things in there were dusty and old of course, with cobwebs settling under those objects. Two pools of water were at each side of the temple, surrounded by half-slabs. But the thing that interested me the most stood between those pools.

A huge humanoid statue was standing on a platform, carrying a massive diamond sword that was about as long as his entire body, excluding his head height. He was wearing a whitish coloured robe with some lines running down it, with a hood attached on the top. His face was completely shadowed by his hood, so I had no idea who this dude was. But surprisingly, Rho did.

"It's Notch," he said, looking at the statue wide-eyed. "Creator of Minecraft himself."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"He was always depicted as a hooded figure with a huge diamond sword," Rho explained. "His face was always obscured, because Notch never revealed his face to us Users."

"Hmm, okay," said Omega, nodding slowly.

"This place must have been abandoned for years," said Alpha, observing the temple. "But it's surprisingly well-conserved."

"Yeah, it's funny how the Creeper King didn't destroy it," I said.

"Maybe he can't attack in jungles?" suggested Omega. "I mean, no monsters ambushed us here."

"I dunno, last time I checked, monsters can come in," said Rho. "But I'm confused why there aren't any in here."

I walked around the room, searching for anything alive in this place. All I saw were dead fireplaces and cracked/mossy stone bricks. So I approached the records, and pulled out a book. As I flipped through, information on mythologies and theories of creation passed my eyes, somehow all related to Notch. I closed that, and proceeded to the next one.

Surprisingly, all books contained different information, going as far as science. How gods are related to science, I have no idea. But it was interesting to read about how Creepers were introduced in this world, or how Redstone circuitries work.

"What are you reading?" Rho asked. I showed him the book.

"Hmm, it is unusual of this one to be in a temple," he commented. "But then, temples were like libraries. There must be books about Users or the Place of Yellow Sands in here somewhere." Upon hearing his words, I placed the book back, and searched the entire shelf. No single book even said the word 'yellow' or 'sands'.

We moved onto the next one, opening up books and looking at indexes. Alpha and Omega soon joined in, searching for anything relevant to our journey. I opened about 20 books or something when my hand grabbed a battered book. I looked at the title.

"SCORE!" I yelled so loudly, that Alpha dropped the book he was searching. I carried the book to the nearest table, and sat down with the others. I placed the book facing upwards, and saw the title: _Mythical Places in Minecraft._

"Um, are you sure about that?" asked Rho. "I never heard of that book before."

"Well then, it can possibly talk about the Place anyway," I answered, and looked for any sign of the author's name. A tinier writing said, 'written by anonymous'.

"Right, and we have no idea who the anonymous writer is," I commented, and opened the book to the index, and searched for our destination. At the P section, however, there _was_ a part named like that on page 398. Somehow, I landed myself right in that page. With everybody else looking over my shoulders, and ignoring the title, I proceeded to read the following paragraphs, which went like this:

_The Place of Yellow Sands, also known as the Island of Timeless, is probably one of the most intriguing and unexplored places in Minecraftia. Famous for its harsh and barren landscape, the Place is a series of sand islands distributed across the sea, all around a huge mass of yellow sand, thus earning its name._

_Very few have explored this region, and their accounts report how lifeless and lacking in vegetation it is. The most mysterious part, however, is that the sun never goes down in this area, which means it is all day without any nights. Because of the eternal sun, Users get confused often of time not passing, as clocks don't work in this place, which is why it's also called the Island of Timeless._

_For some reason, monster bosses cannot enter the main island, being prevented by something like an invisible barrier. Although ordinary ones can, they too cannot survive long during their time in the Place due to the extreme weather. Thanks to its environment, the Place of Yellow Sands is the most lifeless and untouched part of all three dimensions in Minecraftia._

_Venturing through this harsh place was very perilous for Users, as few of them only came out to tell the tale, while the others died of hot weather, dehydration or lack of food. But, because of this, it's a very safe place away from monsters; a natural hideout from oncoming Creeper assaults, according to Zeta31's account._

"Yep, there's your ancestor saving the day," muttered Omega. Rho grinned sheepishly.

I closed the book shut, and faced the rest of the team. "Anyway, we got all the information we need. We have to navigate ourselves through a whole load of sandy islands, with no food or supplies to help us. Somehow, we have to get through the harsh climate with no nights at all, and find the Users which we don't even know where they are."

"Yup," agreed Alpha. "Pretty delightful."

I looked at him. "I hope that was sarcasm."

"Yeah, it was."

"Whatever," said Omega. "We'll have to collect loads of things from this jungle while we still can, but we first need to crash out in this temple."

So we did. Next day, we were heading off for the Place of Yellow Sands, finally.

X

**A/N:**

**Right, that was 6 pages and a line more, excluding the A/Ns. Anyway, I'd like to say that Notch's design is very different from Notch skin, because I thought this design would be cooler. I already have a crude sketch of his looks, and I think it looks godlier than the Notch look we know. I hope you guys all know that Notch and Jeb is actual people, and they aren't made up. But they are portrayed differently in this series, so note that, because I don't want a load of reviews talking about Notch and Jeb's design and all that. OK? Now that my break starts, I hope I'll be able to write more, overcoming my maths lectures and all that. Bye! Have a nice day!**


	17. An Unexpected Assault

**A/N:**

**Over 50 reviews. THIS IS FRICKIN' AWESOME! I love you readers so much, because I was only aiming for what, about 20 reviews or something, and heck, it's more than its double!**

**Oh my gods, I went to the Harry Potter Exhibition, and it was just epic. I even saw Umbridge's foul pink cardigan and an actual dementor! I didn't know they had tailbones though…. Anyway, that was the best time of my life, as being one of the biggest HP nerds in the world, 'cause my parents even bought me a Deathly Hallows necklace, a Hogwarts crest cap and a bag, plus a Ravenclaw T shirt! XDDDDDD I still don't know why my bro got the Elder Wand though…. The Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are cool, 'cause they have weird flavours like soap, sausage, grass, vomit, dirt, booger, black pepper, marshmallow, earwax, rotten egg, and even earthworm. How the earthworm tastes like, I have no idea. But I retched for 10 minutes after trying the rotten egg one my friend gave it to me.**

**O_O I'm rambling again. Sorry, but here is the next chapter! And I must note for people who were longing to find out the Creeper King's most loyal servant, that his identity will be revealed in here. ;D Read on!**

**X**

Omega245

For the first time in our journey, we didn't get to build our own shelter, thanks to the old ruin propped up in the jungle biome. But we surrounded the entrance just in case.

The next day, we ran around gathering resources for the preparation in the Place of Yellow Sands. Rho went to collect timber, while I was off hunting with the wolves, killing any mobs alive except for sheep, which were practically useless. Delta and Alpha went mining for a bit, and brought back loads of cobblestones, and few iron ores.

"Do you think this will be enough?" I asked, once we were all back in the temple, our spaces full with items.

"Yeah, I guess," muttered Delta. "Shame I can't take any of these books. I finished all of them I brought with me."

"Seriously, we have to bring useful stuff, not like literatures," sighed Alpha.

"I hate to agree, but he's right," said Rho. He looked at the bookshelves wistfully, longing to pick up books about 101 ways to kill a skeleton, or whatever random subjects it possibly contained.

It was night, and the jungle was silent again, with no mob noises to disturb us. After many considerations and arguments, we decided to spend another night in the Temple of Notch, just in case there were monsters outside the jungle biome. We still had the chance to get more torches anyway.

The next day, we checked our supplies, made sure we had everything we needed, and left the temple, Delta and Rho reluctantly giving up the books. We started our journey early again, delving through the quiet jungle biome in the morning. I didn't even yawn throughout our walking, because I was too occupied on worrying about our near-impossible task laid ahead of us. How in the name of Nether fortresses were we going to get through a death biome, let alone finding the Users with absolutely no hints about their location? The Creeper King would be really furious that we progressed this far, and if there were no one to stop us, I would have been extremely surprised. Finishing off four tired Users in a harsh desert would be a piece of cake.

Animal noises started to kick in as the sun rose, giving us more light. The wolves sniffed around excitedly, searching for breakfast. A chicken fluttered out of nowhere, and their black eyes zoomed on hungrily. But before they even started pouncing, another visitor did the job for them.

I had no idea what that furry creature was, but it had a similar anatomy to wolves, except for being more slender, adding a longer tail and spotted yellow body. It murdered the chicken with one swipe of its paw, and chewed off the meat.

The wolves howled furiously, glaring at the new intruder, who innocently finished off the last of the bird. Alpha looked as confused as I was, but Rho and Delta gasped.

"It's an ocelot!" said Delta excitedly. The thing looked at us, completely ignoring the protests from the wolves.

"It's like, really rare. I never saw one in my life," said Rho, taking in every part of the organism they called ocelot.

It stared at us for a moment, and leaped off, escaping from us.

"Oh great, did somebody move?" asked Delta, annoyed.

"Pluto did," I pointed out. Delta glared at his wolf.

"I could have gotten myself a cat!" he complained. "And I went fishing yesterday!"

"What's so good about them anyway?" I asked.

"I told you that they scare away creepers."

"What the heck?" said Alpha.

"No idea, but they just clear the creepers out of your way," said Rho. "It would have been good to have a creepercide."

"But come to think of it, having a new additional member would have cost more food," said Alpha brightly. "We don't need another mouth to feed at the Place."

Delta sighed. "I suppose. But having a cat is so cool." He looked at Pluto resentfully. "Did you really have to move at that point?" he asked.

Surprisingly, Pluto barked, looking pleased with himself, scratching the back of his ear somewhat innocently. I had the feeling he wasn't sorry at all scaring off the cat. Thanatos stared angrily at the spot where the cat once stood, probably fantasising himself murdering the ocelot instead.

Rho shifted his glance between Delta and Pluto. "Um, shall we move on then?" he asked awkwardly. We all agreed, and quickened our paces.

X

By the time we reached the end of the jungle, the sun was high up. I was sort of glad we got out of there, because I was fed up with green things. Now we were able to escape this place, and get to our destination we journeyed for months. The jungle biome was right behind us, and a gigantic ocean stretched across the surface, with some yellow land mass popping out of random places. We have finally arrived at the Place of Yellow Sands region, after surviving monster attacks, large oceans, cold biomes with snows, and a jungle. Now we only had to face one more, which looked like the worst of them.

Delta checked his old map, and nodded happily. "Yup, we only have to cross this one," he announced. "Then we are hitting the mainland."

Alpha, on the other hand, didn't look happy at all, probably because of the dreaded heat of the Place of Yellow Sands. I felt worried for the others, for they didn't have the same heat durability as I do. But there were loads of possibilities that the Place would be hotter than Nether, so I wasn't safe that either.

Somewhere from the jungle, a cry of an ocelot came, which I suspected as the one we met earlier. Surely enough, the wolves responded eagerly to it, barking murderously at the direction it came from. There was a pause, and the cat yowled again, sounding a bit scared.

Pluto glared at the direction, and roared angrily. He started to get up, but Delta put a hand before him. The wolf obediently sat back down, looking contemptuously towards the place.

"Still holding a grudge, eh?" said Alpha, observing the wolves' behaviour, which I had to admit was over normality. They looked tense, as if they were ready to get up and attack the ocelot if one more sound came from it. The cat wisely chose to stay put.

"Right, no more cat hunting," Delta told his wolf sternly. The wolf hung his head, obviously disappointed. I nodded at my wolf too, and he slumped back.

We moved onto the shore, taking a quick look at the ocean depths. It seemed to go deeper every block, judging by the shade in the water, and I certainly didn't want to swim across, partly because of my dislike of coldness.

"We're going to need some boats," said Rho. He pulled out a crafting bench, and fashioned four boats, handing each of them out to us. "Hopefully the wolves won't get tired." The wolves barked reassuringly, eager to take a swim.

I placed down my boat, and hopped on. "Let's get going, then," I called to the others. They obliged, and soon, we were off sailing, two wolves swimming by our sides.

Sand islands were everywhere as we passed the ocean, and we steered our boats clear away from them. It was harder than I expected to navigate myself out of this sand maze without crashing my boat. Some passageways were so narrow, that we barely managed to fit through.

Thanatos and Pluto paddled onward, closely following us by the side. But after a few hours, they started to slow down, their movements turning more sluggish, so we decided to take a break on the next sandy land mass we saw.

Thankfully, the island we spotted was about 20 blocks wide and big enough to have all of us in, with the negative side that it was completely sandy.

While we docked our boat on the island's edge, the wolves clambered out of the water, shaking their body and slumping on the floor in exhaustion. I offered them a piece of beef, and they all tore at it enthusiastically.

Delta pulled out his map, and searched for our current location. "We're quite closer to the mainland," he informed. "After crossing 20 or more islands, we'll be there."

"You call that close?" I asked incredulously.

"Most of them are tiny, so yeah, we are close."

"Fine, ignore my last comment."

"Whatever," said Delta. He spread his map on the floor, and faced us. "So, we have to plan this out carefully when we reach the mainland. There are no more nights in here anymore, and we only have to depend on the materials we collected earlier. We'll probably have to build a shelter and search for the Users, as they are in the biggest island, which is the centre one. I'm very sure they aren't in other islands."

"We're not digging up the whole place, are we?" I asked.

"Nah, we'd be dead before digging the whole island. I think this would help us, though." He flipped the map around, and showed us a black writing on the left upper corner of the map. "I can make out writings, and they are definitely in sentences. The only problem is, I have no idea what they mean."

"Oh come on, you're the knowledge guy!" Alpha complained. "Surely you understand some ancient language?"

"I never knew what they meant," said Delta ruefully, staring at the incomprehensive words. "Some of them popped out of books, but I didn't have any other books to translate them."

Rho studied the writings carefully. "I think I can read some," he said.

We all looked at him hopefully. "Really? You can have a closer look," I told him, handing him the map. His eyes zoomed left to right as he read through the sentences. We all sat there in silence, waiting for the translation.

"Hmm, _tabula_?" Rho muttered to himself. "That's map, and uh… _transfiguro_ is transform…. What the heck? I'll pass that…, and the next one… _navigatio_? Navigation, right. Path is _semita_…." He spent the next 5 minutes going on like that, but somehow, we didn't fall asleep or anything.

"Do you get it?" asked Delta, after Rho placed down the parchment.

"Bits of it," he replied. "It's just the ancient language of Minecraft that was used a long time ago. Lucky that I know how to read some, but I don't entirely know the structure."

"Shame," I commented. "Still, what did you piece together?"

"Let's see, there are words like 'map', 'transform', 'destination', 'navigation', 'path', 'sand', but the rest of it, I have no clue at all.

Alpha pondered upon his words, probably trying to make up a conclusion with these clues. "Would it be something like, this map transforming into something like a compass at our destination, and navigating us through the sandy path?" he suggested.

"That actually makes a hell lot of sense," I agreed. "But if it DOESN'T, then what do we do?"

"I really don't know, but this is our only hope," said Delta. "If Zeta31 wrote this on the back of the Overworld map, there's a reason. Let's just trust this guy one more time."

Without warning, a wading sound came from somewhere near us. I suspected it was from the water, and judging by the loudness, it was getting closer.

"See? The Creeper King won't just let us go peacefully," I said to the others, pulling out a stone sword. The others drew their weapon, as the sound became louder every second. I didn't know why, but I was feeling so nervous; even more nervous than meeting the Spider Queen.

A shadow appeared in the water, and it was heading straight for this island. It was too late to move on, so we had to stand and fight.

The thing advancing halted for a moment, and slowly emerged from the water, revealing itself.

X

I had no idea what this monster was, so I turned to the Terrarians for more info, but when Delta and Rho realised what they were seeing, they sniggered, and laughed louder, pointing at our enemy. Even though me and Alpha didn't know this intruder's identity, we managed to snort a bit.

"It's a silverfish!" Delta gasped, bursting into giggles every 3 seconds or so. "And a very cute one too!"

"Seriously, the Creeper King's assassin is _this_?" said Rho disbelievingly, as he too, restrained himself from laughing.

Right, this so-called silverfish was a bit bigger than a block (seriously, a block), his body completely silver except for the grey spines and black horizontal lines on either sides of his body, even around his eyes. He had slits for eyes, but I couldn't stop thinking how cute-looking it was. The spines had a complicate and symmetrical design, and quite fragile-looking too. Tiny black legs were under the creature's silver body, and for the tail, he had a sharp black horn thing. That was probably the only thing looking threatening.

"He's adorable!" said Alpha. "And he's supposed to be our killer?"

The silverfish, however, looked indifferent by our insults. "Looks can be misleading, but you Users won't goggle over me once you realise who I really am." His voice was surprisingly deep, and believe me, it didn't suit at all for a tiny bug.

"From your size, I guess you are no ordinary silverfish," Delta commented. "So are you like, the leader or something?"

The bug's eyes looked at him coldly. "You have guessed correctly, Terrarian," he said in his booming voice. "I am Argentum, Captain of Silverfishes, also known as The Silver Bug, or Little Spine. I am also the lieutenant of the Creeper King, and his most loyal and dangerous servant."

"Right, and your size is qualified to be his lieutenant?" I asked, still surprised and amused by his small body.

"Size doesn't matter," said Argentum coldly. "It depends on the loyalty and fierceness. The king has his reasons to choose me as his best subject, and you will find out soon enough. I promise to make you all regret your actions."

I had no idea how the silverfish would make us pay, but Delta and Rho looked slightly worried now.

The silverfish began to swell, and I backed up in surprise. His body expanded, and the legs elongated, now looking like pincers. The spines looked sharper and sturdier, and his tail now transformed into a gigantic sword-shaped blade, sharper than its previous form. Even the lines on his body turned jagged, instead of keeping its straight shape. His slits narrowed, looking more menacing than what it used to be. Soon, we were facing a 5-block wide monster, about as long as half of this island, bearing down upon us, his black slits filled with malice.

"Not that cute anymore, am I?" Argentum said nastily. "The Creeper King has granted me the honour of finishing you. Even if I don't succeed, he will. But I doubt you'll survive the battle with the second-most dangerous monster in the Overworld!"

"Makes sense now," I said in a small voice. After his transformation, he really did look like one of the most dangerous bosses in this world. We were all frozen, staring disbelievingly at our opponent. Even the wolves hesitated to attack, whimpering of fear.

"We silverfishes may seem pathetic," continued Argentum. "But in groups, we are unstoppable!"

As if on cue, a swarm of his miniscule soldiers came forward, swimming out of the water. They crowded around their master, squeaking somewhat threateningly. They looked cuter than Argentum, but they weren't pretty at all to see them hostile.

"They should take care of you," Argentum cackled, as the silverfishes bristled forward. "But if not, I'll be there to kill the last surviving Users of Minecraftia!" He backed up, and more of his minions moved on.

The silverfish army scuttled forward, and pounced.

X

**A/N:**

**Hmm, this should do. It's exactly 5 pages, excluding A/Ns.**

**This 'ancient language of Minecraft' are some bunch of Latin words I picked up from Google Translate or my Classical Civilisation lessons and throwing them altogether, so all the grammar stuff is rubbish, but I think Latin sounds cool, so I used it. **

**I thought of ending this chapter at the point where Argentum comes out, but I thought that would be too mean, since you guys went through a lot of suspense and cliffhangers, and for the sake of readers like Eien Serenity M, I decided to put in some more info. Ironically, this chapter is a cliffhanger, so sorry about that. BTW Argentum's design is on my wiki, for those who want to see it in real colour and details. Peace out!**


	18. Silverfishes Aren't Nice AT ALL

**A/N:**

**Thankyou sooooooo much for you support! :D I was amazed when the review number was 60! Hell yeah, this just makes my writing time enjoyable!**

**So this would be chapter...18 of The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning, if I count the announcement. It is mostly about the fight, and I tried my best to make it interesting. Enjoy!**

**X**

Alpha198

A silverfish leapt on me, and got pierced by a flaming arrow. Thankfully, I managed to remember I had a Phoenix Bow in my possession, so I was firing arrows at the oncoming army in no time.

Turned out that silverfishes were easy to kill, and they didn't do much damage. But many of them coming continuously tired me down. Their items weren't that satisfying either: experience orbs. The wolves immediately displayed their disappointment after discovering their loots, all useless for them.

The silverfishes kept attacking, and their only way of attacking was biting, which was way better than any other mobs. Seriously, it wasn't that painful or anything. And the amount of damage they did to us was puny, thank Notch. But continuous biting hurts eventually, and I learnt that in the hard way.

There were about 7,000 silverfishes left to slay, and half of the island was covered of them. Delta and Omega slashed at the bugs with their swords, while me and Rho took down them one by one with our arrows. The wolves seemed to have some fun killing mobs that were smaller than them, for the first time in their lives.

Rho seemed to be out of arrows, so he pulled out his enchanted sword, and destroyed about one-sixth of the army. For that moment, I really wished I had an enchanted weapon of any kind. They were more epic than ordinary ones.

Thankfully, Argentum didn't have the ability to spawn his minions, so he just observed the battle offside in a calculating sort of way while we plunged through his army, slaughtering the silverfishes.

After 30 minutes or so, my ammunition ran out as well, so I had no choice but to pull out my Hammer of Notch, since I used up all of my sword supplies. To make sure I wasn't hitting my friends, I shot at the far end of the army, demolishing the crowd slowly.

I think it was thanks to my hammer, because we started to actually _see_ the number of silverfishes decreasing. We were now taking back the island, and the remaining ones were cornered in a small section of the island. Two of them tried to escape the grounds via water, but not so long after they plunged in, one was impaled by Argentum's claw, and the other one was dissected by his tail-end. He turned to the rest of his army, and growled so threateningly, that they all stood their ground, and fought us until we managed to wipe out the rest of the silverfishes.

"Ha, you should have brought more armies!" I said, as Delta finished off the last one.

Argentum surveyed his surroundings, and smiled slowly. "Actually, I prefer this way. Those silverfishes were there to tire you down, and if they managed to finish off all of you, that would have been better. Still, there is no harm done to me, as I'll fulfil my king's wish of destroying you four Users!" He advanced, his body slowly rising in preparation to battle. I glanced at the others, and saw they were worn down, looking dreadfully at Argentum. Suddenly, I had an idea.

"Delta," I said abruptly, "the mainland isn't far away, right?"

"Yeah," he said uncertainly. "Why would you-?" He stopped, and realisation dawned on his face. "Good idea. Move slowly."

I nodded in acknowledgement, and waited for the monstrous silverfish to strike first.

His cold grey eyes narrowed, glaring at us suspiciously. "What are you planning, humans? The mainland won't-" he also halted, and his eyes widened in shock. "You wouldn't dare-how-never you shall reach the place!" he roared, and attacked.

He brought down his sword-tail hard on Delta, who managed to parry away the attack with his sword. The silverfish shrieked furiously, and slashed mercilessly at him, starting a somewhat new type of sword fighting. Maybe he was the only mob that can do a proper combat.

Delta looked strained, as he fended off heavy blows with his sword, as Argentum pressed on, shaking the ground. The wolves came forward to help, but Delta waved them off. I could see the reason why, as wolves won't survive the battle with the most dangerous silverfish in the world. I searched my inventory, and swore. I had nothing useful for fighting right now except for the Hammer of Notch. But if I used it, it would harm Delta as well. Why didn't I bring a lightning knife with me anyway?

Delta slowly retreated, making as natural-looking as he could towards the direction I presumed was the mainland. We slowly followed them, searching for any parts of Argentum exposed. But he moved too fast, and I was pretty sure we'll get sliced to bits before we reach his sides. I looked around, and saw we moved onto the next island.

Omega searched his inventory, and suddenly pulled out a stack of arrows. He threw it to me and Rho, and we halved it to equal stacks.

"Why the HELL do you have arrows?" I shouted at him, preparing to shoot Argentum.

"I dunno, I just found them inside!" he yelled back. Rho pulled his bowstring all the way back, and fired at the silverfish's left body. To our horror, the arrow snapped, and bounced off as if his body was covered in iron plates.

"No way," I muttered, staring at the spot where the arrow hit. "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

Argentum laughed gleefully, as he swung his tail end at Delta. "You have finally realised I cannot be harmed by any sort of weaponry! I am invincible; a feature no other monsters have!"

We now passed the second island, and moved onto the third, Delta trying his best to fight a silverfish in water. Rho hesitated for a moment, and switched his bow to his enchanted sword. He charged after the silverfish, and tried to attack his underside.

Argentum saw what was coming, and shook his body, catching Rho's sword with one of his spines. New thing learned today: His spines are strong enough to swordfight.

The rest of us, that is me and Omega, plus the wolves, watched, as Argentum double-duelled the two across the water, Rho and Delta fighting their hardest.

I was practically useless in this battle. What was I able to do with a Phoenix Bow that doesn't even work to this monster? I couldn't whack him with it anyway.

Omega seemed to see my problem too, because he tossed me one of his swords, and signalled forward. I nodded, and leapt after Argentum, slashing at random places to find a chink of space I can hurt him.

Sadly, there were no seams, so I was running along my friends, searching for any soft spots. I didn't even realise we passed 4 more islands, now standing in the seventh. We only had… about 13 islands left. Damn, that wasn't encouraging.

Argentum was trying to get in front of us, but every time he attempted, Delta swung his sword towards his eyes, so the silverfish had no choice, but to kill him before we reached the mainland. And so far, I was worried if he'd really succeed.

Delta barely dodged a blow from Argentum's demonic claw. It punctured a hole in the ground, sending sands everywhere. He was struggling to fight with the sun giving off intense heat, not to mention seawater around islands. Rho was doing his best to assist him, but every time he tried to engage Argentum instead of Delta, the silverfish blocked his way using one of his spines. That monster was planning to take us down one by one.

I tried to stab Argentum's underside as Rho tried to, but Argentum saw me, and slammed his tail onto the ground, sending cascades of sand piles down the water. Surprisingly, I managed _not _to go down with the mass, but I slipped at the last second, and the next thing I knew, I was in the water.

As I clambered out, I saw Argentum lashing his tail at the others, and saw his inner part of the body was completely different from his armoured outer shell. It looked kind of soft compared to the outside, and easy to damage. I finally found out the reason why Rho targeted the spot.

Wiping off the water on my face, I glanced towards our direction we were moving, and saw a bigger land mass, much bigger than the islands we encountered before. It was about 4 islands away, and I knew this was the one. We were finally closer to the big island. I looked away, and was about to tell my team when everything went wrong.

Argentum turned on his spot, his tail blade aiming for Delta. He brought up his sword just in time, but the diamond sword was knocked out of his hand. It landed in the water with a splash, leaving Delta completely undefended.

Rho charged, his sword pointing at Argentum's weak point, but he simply rammed into him, sending him into the sea too. Before any of us can react, Argentum pounced on Delta, his two claws pressing him down on the sandy surface.

"You fought well," he snarled, as Delta struggled beneath him. "But a User cannot beat a monster boss, and never Argentum!" He raised his tail, preparing for a final blow.

When his tail was up, I saw his soft part well-exposed, a clear shot. I didn't think twice, and soon, I pulled out my Phoenix Bow, aimed at the part, and fired as the tail began to descend.

Argentum shrieked in pain, as the flaming arrow embedded itself deep into the underside. He thrashed around, releasing Delta. I saw my chance, and fired some more, increasing Argentum's howling volume.

Omega rushed to Delta's side, retrieving his sword on the way. He tossed it to him, and went for Rho, as the gigantic silverfish doused its tail on water. When the arrows were dislodged he turned to me, his eyes burning with fury.

"You shall pay for what you have done, Astrian!" he roared, and charged at me. I managed to move out of the way, as Argentum barrelled over the place I've been standing 2 seconds ago. Using the water, I swam towards the island where the rest of the team were waiting for me.

"We're almost there," I panted, pointing at the mainland. "Just need to reach the land mass. After that, we're safe." Everybody nodded, and ran, as the silverfish cursed loudly, following us.

We passed another island on the way, and I risked a look at the silverfish. He was pretty fast on land, but the water slowed him down. Nevertheless, he was having no problem keeping a short distance from us.

Another island was behind us, and Argentum was almost catching up, so I wildly fired another arrow aiming at him. Surprisingly, it hit his exposed chest, and we kept sprinting across an island with Argentum cursing my name behind. But he was soon 9 blocks away from us. Man, that was one tough silverfish.

"Can you swim?" Rho asked to Omega, as the gigantic silverfish kept barrelling towards us.

"Maybe, I got a bit used to water now," Omega answered back.

"Then do it!" I yelled, glancing at the silverfish now and then.

Omega didn't look happy at all, but he dived in anyway, and so did the rest of us. What do you know; swimming was faster for us than running. Even the wolves were swimming as fast as they can, and so was Omega. He was pretty good for a kid that never went for a swim before.

We zoomed past two more islands, and the mainland was right in front of us, only 10 blocks away. I was kind of relieved when Argentum's screaming came right behind us. I turned around, and almost swore.

The monster was now looming over us, his talons outstretched threateningly. His slits glared at me, and I knew I was the planned victim of his claw.

An arrow thudded on Argentum's chest again, and more followed. Rho was firing arrows at top-speed, forcing Argentum to lurch away. He screamed in frustration, and broke away the arrows. But while he was doing that, we moved well away from him.

The wolves leapt out of the water, safely arriving at the mainland. Delta followed them shortly afterwards, pulling Omega over. Rho clambered out a few seconds later, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if our silvery friend was doing well.

He was, apparently, because his temper was on exploding point, snarling and screeching at the top of his voice. He rose, and dived, his claw pointing towards me.

That was unexpected, but I rolled away just in time, and jumped onto the land, safe from the insane silverfish.

The idiot just slammed on the ground, causing a massive wave around him. He cursed loudly, and tried to get his claw to us, but was deflected by an invisible barrier. Well, Zeta31 was right about this point too. Monster bosses can't enter the mainland for some reason, and this was the same to the Creeper King's lieutenant.

So we were there, collapsed on the ground panting, and watching Argentum roaring and thumping against the see-through wall.

"We survived," muttered Omega. "We actually went through Argentum."

"Sure we did," I agreed, and all of us high-fived. That probably enraged Argentum more.

"You won't succeed your quest!" he screamed. "Monster bosses may not be able to enter, but our minions can! We Monster Allies shall torment you with our soldiers!"

We should have been scared or worried, but after surviving the Overworld's second-most dangerous monster, nothing terrified us. "Yeah, but I'm sure they'll die of heat before they reach us," I answered back, and we were laughing for some reason, both relieved and amused by Argentum's threat.

The silverfish said something I presumed was a swear word in silverfish language. He glared at us for one last time, and disappeared. Okay, monster bosses can teleport. Why not?

We spent the next few minutes relaxing, even though the sun wasn't helping much. It dried us fairly quickly, but soon, all of us were sweating, which made us move around again, making a shelter with building materials we collected earlier.

"So, how do we find the Users?" I asked, once we were all in the shelter.

Delta pulled out his map, and looked at it. "I hope this thing transforms into something that will help us." And it did.

The map was shrinking in Delta's hand, and soon, a compass was sitting on his palm. Hmm, I was right about my guess then.

"Oh, what do you know, Alpha: The map DID turn into a compass," said Omega.

"Yeah, weird, huh?" I answered back.

"This must lead us to the place where the Users are hiding," said Delta, as he looked at the compass needle. "Piece of cake from now on."

"But we can have some rest before that, can't we?" asked Rho.

"You're absolutely right," I agreed, and fell asleep right away.

X

**Meantime, in the Monster Allies' base:**

A corner of the room shimmered, and Argentum the silverfish appeared, tired and battle-worn. Some of his spine ends were chipped off, and there were puncture marks on his soft underside from the battle. He crawled to the darkest side of the cave, and bowed his head to a tall dark figure.

"The Users have reached the Place," he said regretfully. "They are beyond our reach. I have failed you, my king. Punish me for my foolish acts, o great creeper."

The Creeper King contemplated his words for a moment, and spoke: "I know you have blown the last chance of stopping them, lieutenant, and your failure certainly deserves punishment. But, as being my most dangerous and loyal servant, and for your past successes during the War, I shall excuse your mistakes."

Argentum bowed deeply. "Thank you, my king. You are very merciful."

The king hissed softly. "But do not return to me with any more disappointing news, Argentum. Then, the consequences won't be as nice as today." Argentum bowed in acknowledgement, and retreated to the sidelines where other monster bosses were stationed.

"As the lieutenant informed us today," said the Creeper King, as he slowly walked in front of the lines of monsters, "the Users have reached the mainland. This means we cannot confront them directly, as the accursed shield is surrounding the land. I want everybody to contribute their soldiers to send inland as much as you can, and no excuses."

"Yes, my king," every single monster bosses answered immediately.

"But, there are chances they will fail," he continued. "So if they meet and warn the Users, we'll have to wipe them out altogether. Ready your armies in case this happens; recruit every single monster in this dimension if you must, and I'm sure we'll even have a siege."

X

**A/N:**

**Okay, that's the end of the chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it. I really worked hard on it, even writing when my maths lectures were having intense buffering. Don't forget to review!**

**P.S. My brother got a Fanfiction account finally, and his username is up on my profile. For those who expect him to write something, I should tell you he's NOT going to, unless if he feels like it, so there's the warning.**


	19. Mission Partially Accomplished

**A/N:**

**Sorry everyone for the late chapter! I had an epic battle with a Writer's Block for weeks now, which prevented me from writing any of my stories.**

**Writer's Block: YOU SHALL NOT PASS!**

**HPE24: Shut up and break already! *pulls out diamond pickaxe***

**Writer's Block: *gasp* an enchanted pickaxe?**

**HPE24: You got that right, mate, and it's EFFICIENCY V!**

**Writer's Block: NOOOOO!**

**HPE24: Hahaha, die! *hits the block***

**Writer's Block: Noooo….**

**HPE24: *standing over the ruins of Block* I have finally conquered the Writer's Block!**

**Delta824: *clapping slowly* Congratulations, HPE24. Finally, we get to make our appearances.**

**HPE24: HOW THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?!**

**Delta824: *shrug* Dunno.**

**Alpha198: Finally we get our story continued after a long 'break'.**

**Omega245: Yep.**

**HPE24: *groan* Guys, seriously, you're fictional characters. Isn't this like, breaking the fourth wall?**

**Delta824: Hmm, I guess so.**

**Alpha198: Ah who cares?**

**HPE24: Many do.**

**Omega245: Whatever.**

**HPE24: Still, I should say that since Minecraft 1.3.1 is out, and this story was written before the release, this don't have all those jungle and desert temples, but I'll add it on future sequels and I wrote about some new features in this chapter, so it's partially based on the new update. Plus, I am happy to announce that this story is slowly inching towards the end!**

**Omega245: WHAT?!**

**Delta824: Dude, you serious?**

**HPE24: YUP. I already planned out the number of chapters, so you guys can't do anything about it.**

**Alpha198: Sure we can.**

**HPE24: How?**

**Omega245: We can cause more trouble.**

**HPE24: Not a smart idea, because I have absolute control over this series, not you guys.**

**All three: NOOOOOOOO!**

**HPE24: HAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**All three: GODDAMIT.**

**P.S. Me and my brother started a story called 'The Short Miserable Lives of Mobs Against Players' in our shared account, and we're trying our best to make it funny. Please give it a read and tell us what you think about it!**

**X**

Delta824

So we have passed through the passageways of sand islands, met a silverfish fleet and annihilated them all, battled a psycho gigantic bug and got myself almost killed. Now, we were at the mainland, going towards wherever the compass of Zeta31 was pointing.

After we left the shelter, taking all the materials back of course, we've been walking through the land with me on the lead, holding the compass. It wasn't a happy journey, as no shades were there to hide us from the sunray, and this was the biggest discomfort for Alpha, even with all his experience with hot weather.

If my memory was correct, we passed a quarter of this island already, and didn't see any evidence of human activity. I was only hoping, but still, it would be very discouraging to see nothing.

We constantly looked back to see if any monsters were following us, but so far, no mobs were to be seen. But now that Argentum failed his task, it was obvious the Creeper King would target the island with every monster he have under his command. So there was no choice but to reach the Terrarians before the monster did to us.

After another 10 minutes, Omega suddenly pointed to a distance. "I see something over there," he announced.

I followed his gaze too, and saw some kind of a wall. It looked as if it was made out of stone.

Wait, stone?

Hell yeah.

Everybody else saw the wall too, and their faces suddenly turned hopeful. "That must be the one," Alpha muttered.

"Of course it is," I said enthusiastically. But before we could move on, Rho tapped me on the shoulder.

"Um, Delta?" he said. "Company."

I turned, and saw some kind of a crowd stampeding towards us. It took us three seconds to realise they were Creepers.

Oh boy, this was going to be tough.

They somehow survived the heat, but all the same, they looked tired. Still, there were about 15 of them, and fighting them in this ground sounded like madness.

"Should we run?" asked Alpha.

I gulped. "Yeah, good idea." And we just ran.

The Creepers moved closer and closer every second, and to my shock, another army of spiders followed. They really seemed to quit sleeping at day just for us, and screw the Spider Queen for that.

The Creeper at the very front was now 3 blocks away from me, and would have blown itself up if I didn't smack away with my sword. It hissed angrily, and charged again. An arrow whistled through the air, and embedded itself on the Creeper's head, enraging it more. It crawled towards us, the lodged arrow stuck up like a horn.

"Gods, it's still alive," Rho complained, readying another arrow to his bow. He pulled the bowstring all the way to the back, and fired, killing the monster. Now we had to deal with the other dudes.

We were very close to the wall now, and realised it was a square wall surrounding an area of the sandy island. It was not that big, and I doubted many people would fit in the space. Still, it was the only spot that we could find shelter from the monsters.

We managed to take out half of the creeper army, but that meant a whole lot of spiders and the remaining half of those walking TNTs. We already caused a lot of explosions and received bites from spiders, and after running in this hot day, our conditions weren't great.

"Whoa, no no no NO!" I yelled, shielding myself with the sword as the nearest Creeper began to sizzle. It blew up, with a crater to mark the spot where the green monster died. Nearby monsters died in the explosion too, but they weren't discouraged at all, ignoring the hole completely.

Pluto and Thanatos were wrestling with a huge spider on the sand, nipping at its legs ferociously. With a last shriek, the spider disappeared, leaving the wolves to face about 40 more.

The next Creeper I turned around to face hissed, and moved forward when an arrow came and thudded on the Creeper's face. It perished on the spot, and its comrades stared at the place where the arrow came.

Two figures on the wall were firing volleys of arrows on the oncoming monsters, taking them down one by one. With the front line completely demolished, the remaining monsters turned and fled, some even tripping on craters.

We turned our gaze to our helpers, who disappeared for a moment, and came out through a piston door. I instantly knew they were Users, and a wave of relief came over me. We managed to find the last Terrarians in this world. FINALLY.

The Users came forward, bows still in their grasps. The front one took off his helmet, revealing a face similar to me and Rho's features.

"Odd to find more Users here," he said curiously. He had black hair and brown eyes, and looked almost 15 years old. He spotted Alpha and Omega, and his eyes widened. "Whoa, an Infernosian and an Astrian? This isn't normal at all."

"Uh, yeah," I muttered. "I'm Delta824, and these are my friends." I quickly pointed out who was who to the two new Users.

"Nice to meet you people," the User replied. "I'm Omicron578, and my companion is Sigma701." The other armoured User raised his hand in acknowledgment. He looked no older than Omicron.

"Are there more Users around here?" asked Alpha.

"Heck yeah," Omicron answered. "There's a city right below us, and no monster bosses can reach it."

"But normal monsters can," said Sigma. "Although rarely, like today."

"Wait, Users are down _there?_" asked Omega, pointing to the ground.

"Yep," said Omicron.

"Is it safe after all those explosions?" asked Alpha uncertainly.

"Of course," said Omicron, amused. "This island is way bigger than you think; large enough to build some settlement way down there."

"Impressive."

"Anyway," said Sigma. "What are you guys doing out here? This island is no place for an evening walk. Surely you have some kind of purpose to come to the Place."

"Oh yeah. You see, the Monster Allies are trying to wipe out all the Users, and they're heading for this place to finish their job or something-"

"What?" asked Omicron, completely bewildered. "What about the Users outside this place?"

"You don't know what happened to them?" I asked incredulously.

"No," he answered. "We lived our entire lives in here, and so did our ancestors, ever since they came to this place by Zeta31's guidance."

"Hmm, understandable," said Rho. "Anyway, a long time after Zeta31 led away the Users, the remaining people were all killed by the Creeper King's armies."

"Even the Capital?" asked Sigma, horrified.

"Yes," Rho confirmed. "The Neptune died along his people, and I was the only remaining survivor from the battle. Other little villages were obliterated before the big invasion. I thought I was the only remaining User in this whole world until I met my friends and learnt about people living in the Place. Well, that's how we ended up here, searching for you people."

"So _all_ Users are dead?" whispered Omicron. "Except for us?"

"We think there are some more surviving in the Aether and the Nether," I quickly pointed out. "So after all this Overworld business is settled down, we're planning to visit the two dimensions."

"Interesting plan," said Sigma. "But you guys must be tired from your journey. Come with us." We gladly followed the two Users to the wall, going through the piston gate. There was a hole where stairs were leading down to some place under this sandy surface. I peered down, and marvelled on how long the stair was, even though they were spiral-shaped.

"So you guys go on this stair every day?" asked Omega, as the six of us plus two wolves trudged down the staircase.

"Not always," said Omicron, who was on the lead. "The villagers take turns to keep watch every day, and well, it's our turn now."

"How many people are living down there?" I asked.

"Oh, a few hundred."

"Only that?" asked Rho, shocked.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard living down here for generations," said Sigma, shrugging. "But our population is just enough."

"I never expected so little Terrarians to survive," I wondered. "I thought many went with Zeta31."

"The majority did," Omicron admitted. "The Capital people and nearby villages stayed to fight the monsters, even though Zeta tried to persuade them." He sighed. "Guess the Neptune was determined to make a last stand, eh?"

"Since he was the king, yeah," said Rho.

"Say, do you know who the Neptune was when the Capital fell?"

Rho tensed for a moment, and replied. "Omicron342."

Omicron looked mildly surprised. "Really? Oh, we have a same name. How coincidental!"

"But he died," said Sigma. "What now?"

"Why?" asked Alpha.

"Because he is our leader," said Omicron, somewhat obviously. "Controlling elements are what we normal people can't do. The Neptunes protected the Terrarians ever since Notch named those supernatural people Praeceptors. With their powers, the Praeceptors protected and benefitted the people for generations. Users prospered throughout the three dimensions, and our leaders were immensely respected. Even at Zeta's times, people were so loyal to their king that nearby villagers decided to stay and fight to their death along the Neptune. For your information, Rho, it seems they kept it up for decades."

"Yeah, they did," said Rho, suddenly depressed.

"What's wrong?" I asked concernedly.

"No, everything's fine. It's just that, I happened to know the Neptune before I left to go exploring. We were quite close together, and when I came back to see him and all the townspeople dead… well, quite discouraging," he sighed.

"I'm really sorry," I murmured, placing a hand on his arm.

"Ah, it's all history," he shrugged. "I can't force Notch to bring back my family, and the best I can do is to kill those despicable monsters and crush them."

"That's the spirit," said Omega cheerfully.

While we were talking, we almost made it down to the bottom floor without realising it. Sigma went up to the door, and did some tricky-looking activities on the wall, opening the door.

"It's extra security," he explained. "Our town's mechanist invented it."

"Genius," Alpha muttered, staring at the intricate system of buttons and other unidentifiable objects. We went through the threshold, and I felt my jaw drop.

The underground village was way more than I expected it to be, and hundreds of Users were bustling around the huge space. The area was so big that the inhabitants weren't crowded at all. Sandstone covered the ceiling and walls, preventing sand from dropping. Redstone lamps lighted the area, along with numerous torches, so the town was as bright as the outside. Houses were distributed across the vast ground, but not compacted tightly. Overall, it seemed like a good place for people to live.

"C'mon," said Sigma, and we followed him, walking around the outskirts, heading off to somewhere. Omicron approached an ordinary looking house, and knocked on the door.

A man in his fifties or something came out, saw Omicron, and smiled. "What is it, Omicron?" he asked kindly.

"Sir, while we were on duty, we found four Users from the outer world," he informed, indicating me and my friends. The guy's eyes widened.

"Are you from the Capital?" he asked excitedly. "Is the war over?"

"Er…" I trailed off, trying to make this news less shocking. "Not really."

"Then what?"

"Sir, they informed us that they are the last remaining Users outside this place," said Sigma, saving me from a lot of talking.

The dude stared at us, horrified. "All the others are dead?" he whispered. "Even the Neptune?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Rho. "I am the last survivor from the Capital. I met my friends during my travel."

"This is most unfortunate," the man said frantically. "Our ruler is dead! We were supposed to be relying on them to bring us back."

"I'm afraid to say it's not safe to let out all these people," said Alpha. "We almost died while coming to this place, thanks to the Monster Allies."

The man opened his mouth to say more, but closed it. "I'll need to know what happened on the outside world, but before that, please come to my house." We were too tired to decline, so we went in.

X

After a few decent minutes of resting, talking, questions and confirmations, we filled the guy in with what was going on for the past few years, telling them the monsters now roamed the land, and what the Monster Allies were doing. That news shocked the man quite a lot, but he paid close attention to what we were saying.

From him, we also learnt about what people were doing ever since their ancestors came to the Place. The people seemed to have a nice and safe life, except for some occasions where monsters reached the hiding place and killed sentries. Thankfully, those days weren't happening anymore, according to him, and Users were well-protected from dangers. One person started to lead the whole citizens and representing the whole village, which was now the man's job, who told us his name: Upsilon212.

He wasn't surprised when we told him about the possibility of Aether and Nether Users hiding for some reason. "They are in hiding, yes," he confirmed. "We had a way of communicating with our neighbours for quite a long time, and greatly improved thanks to our mechanist. But as we did, they don't have a clue on what's going on outside, since the places are almost designed for hiding away from the outside."

"They are in places similar to this?" I asked.

"Of course. Surprising, but it looks like every dimension has some kind of secure hideout. Zeta31 discovered this, and persuaded most of the Users to hide themselves, save for some others and the Praeceptors."

"Wait," said Omega. "If you guys can contact other Users, can you possibly tell them about the situation right now?"

"Yes, I think we can," said Upsilon. "It would save time to send people to alert them." And he went out, probably to some communication centre.

"Oh, okay," I said. Things were surprisingly easy. The sudden burden of visiting two dimensions was off my mind. But if we were just lounging about in the Overworld, what were we going to do?

"Our task just got mostly depleted," said Omega, thinking the same thing as me. "Are we just waiting here until the Monster Allies strike?"

"But that sounds foolish," said Alpha. "And boring. We can find out more about their plots, infiltrate their base, kill off less powerful monster bosses, or whatever attacks we can do."

"You suddenly got a taste for dangerous and action-packed missions, Alpha?" I asked, looking at him.

"Well, duh," he replied. "I want to stretch my arms and do something that involves fighting."

"Hmph," Omega grunted, obviously displeased.

"But we have no choice right now," said Rho. "We'll have to wait until we decide on anything else."

"Yeah, you're right," I mumbled.

Upsilon returned, shutting the door behind him. "I just sent messages to the other leaders. They are well-aware of it now."

"Good," I said absent-mindedly, fiddling with my pickaxe.

"And I decided to tell the rest of the villagers of this news. Would all six of you accompany me?" We nodded, and trooped out of the house, our wolves trotting behind us.

X

So it took half an hour to tell the inhabitants of what was going on outside the Place of Yellow Sands, and we had to endure a lot of curious and sceptical looks, gasps and other possible actions that came from a crowd. I was so glad when Upsilon dismissed the villagers.

"For now, we'll be monitoring the Monster Allies' actions, as it's sure they'll target this place," said Upsilon, once everything was settled down. "Meanwhile, why don't you go around the town?"

"Yeah, we'll do that," said Rho.

"Good. Would you like Omicron to show you around?" he asked.

"That would be great," said Omega.

So me, Rho, Alpha, Omega, Omicron and the two wolves had a tour around the underground village, Sigma absent since he had some other work to do in his family. Omicron briefly pointed out the important parts of the village, like the communication centre, farming area, and where people lived. After that, he led us to a stone house.

"Who's living in there?" asked Omega.

"Oh, our town mechanist," said Omicron. "He likes visitors, and I know him well. You'll like him." And he opened the door.

The inside was pretty dark, only lit with one or more torches. All kinds of equipment filled the house, such as Redstone torches, repeaters, wires and pistons. The only sound was someone fiddling with some pieces of metal. Overall, it was pretty messy.

Omicron turned to a corner, where the tinkering sound was coming from, and called, "Hey, Xi, got some free time?"

The tinkering stopped, and a guy emerged from his seat, taking off his protection goggles. I expected the mechanist to be old and short, but his appearance was totally different from my thoughts. He seemed to be 20 years old, judging by his height and looks. He had black hair like most of the Terrarians, but had light blue eyes. He was… cool, I guess? This guy looked curiously at us.

"Guys," said Omicron. "This is Xi997, our town's mechanist."

"Hi," he said, raising his hand. The rest of us replied back.

"So, what have you been up to?" asked Omicron.

Xi frowned. "I've been looking for my sticky piston. I forgot where I put it."

"Isn't it over there?" I said, pointing at a piston sticking out of the pile.

He moved towards it, pulled out the object, and his face split into a grin. "Why, here it was! Thanks for telling me!" And he heaved the piston back to his working bench.

"Is your memory failing you again?" asked Omicron, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, I think so," said Xi. "I can't remember where I put my-my-"

"Equipment?" I supplied.

"Yeah," he replied. "Sorry, I have a bit of trouble in talking. And Omicron, what did you say again?" he asked mildly.

Omicron blinked. "I didn't say anything."

"Oh okay," Xi shrugged. He trudged back to his working table, grumbling about hallucinations.

"Poor fellow," Omicron sighed. "He's schizophrenic."

"Are you serious?" asked Alpha, staring at him.

"Yeah, it's not one of the worst cases, but it's the reason of his lack of sleep, forgetfulness and hallucinations. But he got a brilliant mind and creative ideas."

"He's a nice guy," I admitted. The others nodded in agreement.

There was a sound at the door, and Sigma701 came in, panting as if he ran all the way to here.

"Hey Omicron," he said, catching his breath. "We have to go back up. Upsilon just said so."

Omicron cursed. "I thought our shift was over!" he said indignantly.

"Apparently, we have to fill the whole day," said Sigma. "It's only fair, isn't it?"

"Shoot, I wanted to chill out with the new guys," said Omicron. "Ah well, it's our duty. But you guys want some company, right?" We all nodded. "Fine. Xi, are you free for the rest of the day?"

"After a few minutes?" he called back. "Yeah."

"Good. Can you stay with the newcomers while we go off for duty?"

"Sure," he replied.

"Right," said Omicron, turning back to us. "We'll be back at night, and if you have anything to ask, go to Xi. Even though he's schizophrenic, he's welcomed to stay with you."

"Okay," I replied. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," said Omicron. "See ya guys later." And he was off with Sigma, fitting their armours back on.

The four of us went to Xi again, and saw that he was working with Redstone wires now.

"What are you making?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm trying to make a piston trap," he said, concentrating on the sticky piston. "It's just a small experiment for now, but I'm planning to make a trap with lava and tripwires."

"How?"

"Well, when the target trips on the wire," said Xi, pointing at the tripwire. "It triggers the Redstone signal, and the floor under the target sinks, since layers of sticky pistons are attached to each other. It drops all the way down to a lava lake underneath the flooring, therefore incinerating the target when it completely sinks."

"Smart idea," Omega whistled. "Have you tried out?"

"No," Xi replied cheerfully. "I'm trying a smaller version just in case something's wrong, but I'll do that later, since I don't have a spare bucket of-um, lava."

"You're actually going to use real lava?" asked Alpha.

"Yep," replied Xi. "But that would take ages to do, so I'll do that later." He got up from his seat, and stretched. "I'm going to get some more iron ingots," he said. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," said Rho.

It took a while for my eyes to get accustomed to the sudden brightness, since Xi's house was so dark. Xi was in the lead, occasionally glancing sideways as if he saw something. Villagers nearby were fascinated by seeing Alpha and Omega, for they never saw an actual Astrian and Infernosian in their life. The two of them were uncomfortable by their attention, as kids looked up from whatever they were doing.

Soon, we arrived at some kind of a stall where Xi leaned over to ask for iron ingots. Rho also went with him, looking at the items in the place. Meanwhile, the rest of us lounged about, checking out our surroundings. It was pretty amazing to see more Users, as I believed I was the only one in this vast world for my entire life. Well, before I met the others.

I randomly looked around, and saw a rather small house. It seemed to be a building for only one person. From there, a girl came out.

She had black hair, as many Users did, and had deep brown eyes. She was probably of my age or younger, and slightly shorter than me. Overall, I thought she was quite beautiful.

Alpha followed my gaze, and slowly grinned. "Fell for someone?" he asked casually.

"What? No!" I said, startled by his words. He just cackled.

"Pfft, anybody would think you totally fell for her," he said, still having the amused smile. "It shows on your face."

I blushed. What the hell was I doing? I never went on like that before, but that was probably because I never _saw_ a female User. Still, what did I honestly feel about her?

"You've got a good taste, though," said Omega, joining us. When we looked at him questioningly, he pointed onward.

Several boys started to pay attention to her as she passed, and some even tried flirting with her. When she passed after a brief moment, all the boys were pouting. I couldn't help myself, but chuckle slightly.

"Oh, you saw her?" a voice called out. Xi seemed to finish gathering ingots, and he was now right next to us.

"Yeah," I said. "Why are the boys obsessed with her?"

"That's Iota443," said Xi, indicating the girl. "She's twelve, and quite a sad age to live alone too."

"What happened to her family?" I asked, curious.

"Oh her parents died while going on the patrol outside," said Xi. "Killed in a Creeper accident, according to the witnesses. She was about eight then."

I felt so sorry for her. She was like the rest of us, losing our family because of the monsters.

"But she's quite tough, which is one of the reasons why all the boys in town fancies her," said Xi, a glint of amusement in his voice. "Sadly for them, Iota always turns them down. So it'll be a news when she gets a boyfriend." He chuckled slightly.

Somewhere in my mind, disappointment washed over. What the hell was wrong with me today?!

"What do you plan to do for the rest of the day?" asked Xi, once we were back in his forge. "You can chill out here if you want to."

"That'd be great," said Alpha. "You sure it won't bother you?"

"Nah, I like company, even though I'm schizophrenic," shrugged Xi. "Weirdly enough."

"It is weird," Rho admitted. "But what if the monsters really attack this place?"

"That would be a disaster," said Omega. "There aren't many Users to fight a massive army of undead monsters."

"True," said Xi, while fiddling with string. "But most of them are trained of fighting, so it wouldn't be much of a problem if they really invade. Plus, I also invented traps for mobs," he added mischeviously.

"Yeah, that would help a lot," I said. "But I have this feeling that every monster bosses will be here. Even the Creeper King."

"Then we'll have to fight back," said Alpha. "That's the obvious thing. We can't let the monsters kill the last Terrarians."

Before I can reply, Upsilon, Omicron and Sigma came running towards us, their faces pale.

"What happened?" asked Rho, as they reached the forge, panting.

"The sky," Sigma choked out. "It turned black."

The rest of us stared at him dumbfounded.

"You mean it turned night?" I asked disbelievingly.

Sigma gulped, and nodded. "I never saw night before. It was always day in the Place. I don't know why it suddenly turned dark."

"Night is always a time for monsters," said Rho grimly. "I hope this got nothing to do with them."

"Unfortunately, I think so," said Omicron. "We saw another new structure on a nearby island. The front was crawling with spiders and creepers."

A chill went down my spine. "Then they are here," I murmured. "The Monster Allies are at the Place of Yellow Sands."

X

**A/N:**

**HPE24: On that note, the chapter ends! This was one of the longest chapters I ever wrote, because it's nine pages EXCLUDING the long author's note. And I must mention that Xi997 is PyroPotter's character, who is a friend of mine (well, I consider him my friend). He asked me if there can be a character based on him, so I chose a planned character's name for him. All the description is suggested by him. This is NOT an OC submission, because I never thought of having it, and after having two more people asking me, I decided not to accept any more, so that's it. Sorry for those who wanted to submit characters, but I'm afraid if I'll show favouritism to my friends, and I'm terrible at writing about OC characters. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

**Delta824: Yeah, now we have to fight the monsters. Thanks a ton, author.**

**HPE24: You're most welcome.**

**Delta824: I was being sarcastic.**

**HPE24: I know.**

**Delta824: *sigh* I guess you do. Still, I'm still unhappy on how this story is drawing to an end.**

**HPE24: Did I tell you I was making loads of sequels?**

**Delta824: No.**

**HPE24: Hopefully, I'll get to fit in new features of updated Minecraft versions created by Mojang there.**

**Delta824: What's Mojang?**

**HPE24: *facepalm***

**Anyway, please review! And don't forget to check out me and my brother's shared account and our story!**


	20. Monsters Do Cheat After All

**A/N:**

**HPE24: Right, let's start chapter 20 (without counting the NOTICE) of The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning!**

**Delta824: Oh joy.**

**HPE24: You better be. It's the action chapter, not like those cheesy fill in ones.**

**Omega245: Which means a hell lot of pain.**

**HPE24: Dude, I had trouble too to fill this one with action. It's not easy for me to make it intense. I'm not sure if I did a good job, but thank gods, it'll be over in a few chapters.**

**Alpha198: A FEW CHAPTERS!**

**HPE24: YUP. And I should say that I wanted to finish this on my birthday, but due to some unexpected events, I posted it up 2 days after. Anyway, yeah. This is like for my birthday celebration thing, so I updated it.**

**Delta824: Really?**

**HPE24: Duh. Look at the number next to your name.**

**Delta824: I still don't get it.**

**HPE24: Dude, the others' numbers are random, but yours is different. I used my birthday date when I created my Minecraft account.**

**Delta824: Fine, I got it, Em.**

**HPE24: Don't call me by my nickname! Only my friends can call me that. Humph!**

**Alpha198: Okay okay, chill. Back to our original topic.**

**HPE24: I'll give you a way to remember easily: it's the same day when Mount Vesuvius of Pompeii erupted.**

**Delta824: What the hell are those?**

**HPE24: *facekeybord***

**P.S. to 'not sayin P', I should thank you for liking my story! And when I decided the name Terrarian, I never knew there was a game called Terraria. Weird, but I didn't know, and if I just called them Minecraftians, well, to me, it applies to EVERYONE living in the World of Minecraft, like the Aether guys and the Nether guys. I kinda wanted to divide the three kinds of races up, so I invented those names with some Latin words twisted around. I think I mentioned that in my earlier author's notes. Sorry if this disappoints you, but I have no CLUE AT ALL about the game Terraria. I only know that it's really similar to Minecraft, but I never played it, and I don't know anything about it. I just plan to write a hell lot of story for this series, so sorry about that! **

**X**

Omega245

People were running around the town, preparing for the upcoming battle. Men and women were putting on armour, readying their swords and bows. Some kids of our age were even armed, most of them excited to fight the monsters. It was quite a sight, seeing the whole village rising up for battle.

"Well, this is it then," said Delta. He had his diamond sword in his hand as usual, but had a piece of armour on.

"Why do you only have the chestplate?" asked Alpha curiously, who happened NOT to be wearing any kind of armour.

"Too much armour slow me down," said Delta, shrugging. "And I'm good with a chestplate."

"We'll see about that," I muttered. I was all ready and set, with full armour excluding the helmet. I didn't know why, but helmets just weren't my type.

Rho jogged towards us, his enchanted sword in hand. Just like Delta, he only had a chestplate on. "The plans are all set. It's time to go up."

"Oh yeah, let's have some fun," said Alpha, stretching his arms.

"You won't call it fun once you see Users dying," I replied.

The four of us went to the entrance, our wolves trotting behind. They seemed to be talking with each other, probably discussing about how to kill a monster violently.

A few minutes later, we were up to the ground level, and were astonished to see that the sky was really black. Stars were visible on the dark sky, and little clouds passed over. It would have been a normal night, if not for the monsters crawling outside.

"Oh good, you guys are here," said Omicron, as we climbed up the ladder to the wall edges, where some Users were lined up. He and Sigma were wearing iron armour, and like other people, had a bow in their hands.

"Any sign of attacking?" asked Delta.

"Not yet," Sigma replied. "We are ready to shoot them down when they come. It's only a matter of time."

I nodded. "Do we have a plan?"

"Kind of," said Omicron. "We're going to have most of the archers here, and swordfighters are going out to take care of the oncoming monsters, while the archers shoot the ones behind. That way, we won't hit one of us."

"Yeah, and hopefully, we'll survive this," said Sigma.

"Hopefully," I agreed.

Below us, Users began to come out, all of them wearing armour and wielding swords. They took position before the main gate in straight lines.

"Are you going to join them?" asked Rho.

"Are you kidding me?" said Alpha. "We're not missing a chance to chop them up."

"Well, I'll go too," said Delta. "But I'll join after shooting some arrows."

"Aw, then the good ones would be taken," I complained.

"I'm sure I'll get those up here," he replied, pulling out his bow. "Wait, is that movement over there?" he asked, pointing at the monsters' base's direction.

Sure enough, a crowd of monsters were stampeding across the yellow land, and the front line seemed to be made out of Creepers, shortly followed by skeletons.

"Archers!" a guy yelled somewhere in our right. All the archers began to draw and ready their bows, so all of us followed.

"Fire!" Simultaneously, all of us on the wall outline released our bowstrings, shooting waves of arrows to the enemy line. Creepers and skeletons fell as the arrows found their target, but soon, the skeletons began to fire as well. About five blocks left, an archer fell with an arrow on his chest.

"Well, it's time to go down there!" Alpha yelled, as the door below us opened, and Users began to stream out.

"Good luck, and try not to get killed!" Delta replied, taking cover and firing another arrow.

"You too!" I yelled back, and me, Rho and Alpha descended the ladder, joining the wolves and the ground armies.

Now that people were on ground, the archers began to take higher aims, taking out the armies behind, but some people like Delta continued to kill monsters on the front one by one with precise aiming.

The two armies clashed, most of the front line people engaging Creepers on combat. I looked around, and saw Rho and Alpha fighting a rather huge spider. I would have joined them if it wasn't for those skeletons coming towards me.

Three of them marched towards me, shooting arrows, all of which I managed to dodge. Quickly sidestepping, I smashed the sword hilt into a skeleton's skull, destroying its head before it dissolved. One skeleton swung its bow at me in a supposed attempt to hit me, but I grabbed the bow, and sunk my blade into its rib cage, leaving it to disintegrate.

"Wow, thanks for the free weapon," I smirked, pocketing the new bow I 'earned'. The last skeleton nocked an arrow, but another one shattered its skull and the monster crumpled. I looked up, and gave a thumbs-up at Delta, who answered back in the same kind, resuming targeting the monsters.

It was total mayhem, Users and monsters all jumbled up, fighting to the death. Occasionally, I saw bodies of fallen people, but also a lot of remains from the monsters, which was rather encouraging after seeing so many corpses.

The ground shook as another Creeper blew up, and nearby Users yelled in pain, probably damaged by the explosion. Rho and Alpha seemed to be fine, although they sported light bruises.

"How's it going?" Alpha yelled, as he rammed into a zombie, hacking on its limbs.

"Good!" I replied. "A skeleton gave me a goodbye present!" I showed the bow to prove my point.

"Not bad!" said Alpha, as the zombie groaned and died. "I got loads of arrows too! Man, they give good stuff away!"

"I know right?" I felt slightly silly, but I was too elated to care. The wolves ran beside me, tackling spiders and silverfishes, ripping them apart. Since Delta was up there, Pluto had no choice but to follow Thanatos and me.

"WOOF!" Pluto barked happily, as he snapped a silverfish clean from its body, bisecting it.

"Good boy!" I said, tossing him a piece of meat. He happily tore at it, giving me a grateful look before joining Thanatos on disassembling a skeleton.

"Rho!" I called, as he decapitated a Creeper with a slice of his blade. Rho looked up and grinned.

"Hey buddy, doing fine?" he asked.

"You kidding? I never killed so much in my life!"

"Well, glad you are, because they certainly aren't," said Rho, jabbing his finger at a crowd of Users fighting a horde of Creepers.

"Hmm, let's lighten up the mood, shall we?" I asked, drawing my newly acquired bow.

"With pleasure," said Rho, pulling his bow too. The two of us took aim, and fired the arrows at two creepers. The green monsters crumbled as the arrows passed clean through their heads, saving the Users from trouble of dealing two additional threats. The rest of the Creepers were all taken down by our arrows.

"That's what I'm talking about," I whooped, fist-bumping Rho.

"OH FOR NOTCH'S SAKE!" I heard somebody yelled, and saw Alpha marching towards us, a Phoenix Bow in his hands. "You could have told me you were shooting!"

"I had no idea where the hell you were," said Rho. "It's not late though," he added, pointing at a swarm of silverfishes overwhelming Users.

"Hell yeah, burning time," said Alpha, and he shot volleys of flaming arrows at the mobs, setting them on fire.

Rho decided for a close combat, and he approached the crowd with his monstrous blade. With one swipe, ten silverfishes lay on the floor, writhing and slowly disappearing.

"I could use some wolves over here!" I called to Thanatos and Pluto. They immediately ditched the spider they were harassing, and plunged into the bugs, squishing and chewing the silverfishes.

"Okay," I muttered. "Squishing bugs to death, why not?" Soon the army was all dead, their experience orbs scattering the floor.

We ran across the blood-streaked sand, decapitating monsters we ran into. As I brought down my sword tip at a spider, I heard Users cheering. I looked up, and saw the monsters retreating off to their masters' side.

"Wow, seriously?" said Alpha, impaling the floor with his sword.

"No, wait," I muttered. "Something's not right. There's no way they're already giving up."

My point was proved when Users at the very front began to fall, and someone screamed, "SPIDER JOCKEYS!"

"Goddamned pickaxes, they have the set AGAIN?" I grumbled, recounting the last encounter with those weird skeletons riding on their pet arthropods.

"Oh no," Rho muttered. "They'll get slaughtered." Sure enough, spider-mounted skeletons charged through the battleground, shooting Users down mercilessly. For some reason, they seemed to be bigger.

"Don't you think they got bigger?" asked Alpha, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, and the arrows are huge," I muttered, as I saw a User getting skewered by a long thick stick from the skeleton.

The archers on the wall shot arrows after another at the gigantic creatures, but they seemed to have better health. A spider shocked me by simply shaking off the arrows like an annoying bug, and continuing to plunder through the panicked Users.

One jockey swivelled its head to our direction, and the spider began to crawl towards us, with its rider readying its bow.

Rho charged, his diamond blade blocking the huge arrows as he advanced. Even though the material was diamond, it was the strongest one I've ever seen. I wondered how he prevents it from rusting or degrading.

The skeleton tried to draw its bow back, but before it could, a flash of light ran down its body horizontally. Rho landed on the ground behind it, and a few seconds later, the skeleton's body fell in two pieces, all clean and even.

"Whoa," I muttered. "Now that's really cool."

The spider hissed, and turned to face Rho, but with more flashes of light, the spider was left divided into clean pieces before Rho's feet.

"How the frigging hell do you do that?" asked Alpha disbelievingly, as Rho twisted his blade around in sand to wipe off the filth.

"Oh it's not that hard actually. I just have a fitting blade," said Rho mildly, pulling his sword off the ground.

"I've never seen anyone that good with a sword," I commented.

"Thanks dude," replied Rho, wiping sweat off his face. "One down, about twenty four more to go."

"Shoot, if we had enchanted blades…" I trailed off, glancing wistfully at my sword. My iron sword's edge was getting blunt, and soon, it would reduce to a pile of nothing.

It sure did, after taking out three Spider Jockeys. I only had a bow in my hand for defence with arrows depleting rapidly. Alpha took out three like me, while Rho killed six more. So that made twelve remaining on the ground, gaping at the spot where their comrades perished.

A skeleton shot an arrow at Rho, but he lightly dodged it, and slashed his sword across the skeleton's body. The monster stared at its ribcage which was falling apart slowly, severed bones hitting the ground. The spider followed its rider shortly, after being trisected neatly by Rho.

The other Spider Jockeys were now aware of their newfound killer, and all their attention turned to us. The spiders shrieked at us, running in an incredible speed.

"Oh great," I muttered. Rho looked indifferent, as he extracted one of the jockey's arrows from the ground. He weighed it on his hand, and fitted into his bow.

"You're not going to shoot that thing, are you?" I asked nervously, eyeing the arrow which probably had the same height as me.

"Normal ones don't work. It's time for them to taste their own medicine," said Rho. He pulled the string all the way to the back, his arm muscle straining to hold onto the arrow. I wasn't that surprised to see his bow creak and his arms tremble by the pressure. That thing was too big for a normal human to shoot.

The lead Spider Jockey was ten blocks away from him when Rho released the steely rod. It zipped through the air in an astonishing speed, accompanied by a high-pitched whistle. It went through the spider's face, and impaled the skeleton's ribcage, blasting the whole monster's body to bits. The spider keeled over, with a very visible puncture mark on its face and slowly dissolving, while its rider was scattered throughout the ground. That arrow was so destructive, that it even pierced the skull of a jockey behind the dead one.

Rho dropped his bow, massaging his arms. "That was a lot more painful than I thought," he muttered.

"That was incredible!" I gasped. "Absolutely AMAZING!"

"It was," Rho admitted. "But it nearly paralyses your arm. I should try out in bigger bows."

"Here," said Alpha, picking up a jockey's bow from the ground and passing it to him. "Will this do?"

Rho pulled on the strings for a bit, weighing it and studying the shape slightly. "It's not designed for Users," he said, "but the bowstring should hold the weight. I think I'll use it after my arm gets better. But until then, I'm as good as being out of the battle."

I groaned. Rho was our biggest advantage, and without him, I wasn't sure how to take on the rest of the spider jockeys. They must have known our disadvantage, because they started to come this way, the spiders accelerating.

Alpha tried shooting flaming arrows at them, but the monsters merely shook them off, continuing to advance.

Rho fumbled for his sword, and dropped it. "Damn," he cursed, "I shouldn't have shot that arrow."

I considered we should make a run for it, but then they would start shooting at us, so I dropped the idea. The skeletons seemed to gloat on their success, narrowing down the distance between us.

A skeleton stopped gloating, or maybe it did, because the next thing I knew, it's upper body was gone, hurtling backwards. The spider hissed confusedly, looking at the legs of its former rider. Another shot drove across the spider's right side, causing the whole thing to explode.

When I turned, I saw Delta charging forward, and to my surprise, wielding a jockey's bow and shooting the metal rods at the remaining Spider Jockeys. He fired one last shot on a skeleton's forehead, leaving it to die slowly and painfully. Behind him Xi997 was fending off nearby monsters, occasionally switching to a bow and shoot at the massive spiders' eyes.

"You can use that thing?" asked Alpha, amazed. Delta rubbed his wrist slowly, pinning the bow on the ground.

"Yeah. Surprisingly, the huge bows absorb most of the pressure, so it doesn't hurt your arm much," he replied. Not far away from him, Xi shot an ordinary arrow, bursting a spider's eye with a sickening _pop_.

"I've got to try that out," Rho muttered. "It almost killed my arm, after using normal ones."

"I saw it. That's why I thought of using these… _abnormally long iron bars,_" he admitted. "That's the only type of arrow that affects them."

"Unless you count the soft parts!" Xi grinned, popping another red eyeball open. The spider screamed in agony, thrashing around with hollow eye sockets.

"Wow, I doubt they'll give spider eyes," I muttered, regarding the eyeless arachnids. "It's all destroyed."

"Who cares? We already have enough of them." He shrugged. "Besides, we don't use much of those negative potions these days."

"Good point," I commented. I made a quick count of the Spider Jockeys, and saw eight complete pairs and a spider left, including the eyeless ones. The lone spider, that is, one of the ones that Xi blinded, bounded forward, and lunged, but Rho quickly picked up the jockey's bow and an arrow, and shot the arachnid through its underside. The spider was thrown backwards, breaking to particles by the impact.

Three Spider Jockeys moved forward, the skeletons tugging their bowstrings. At once, about seven Users intercepted them, and hacked away on the limbs. Soon, the three of them were left disintegrating on the sandy surface.

The remaining five exchanged glances, and started to run. Rho calmly raised the jockey's bow with the arrow, and shot at the sky. Moments later, a Spider Jockey toppled sideways, pierced by the arrow from the skeleton's head to the spider's belly. Their comrades quickened their paces, and other monsters followed them too, retreating for sure.

"Should we go after them?" I asked.

"No, we don't have to," said Xi, grinning broadly. He eyed the island's coast, muttering "Wait for it… wait for it…."

When the monster armies were almost at the edge of the island, explosions erupted beneath them, all consecutive or simultaneous. We all got to have a good look at monsters flying to their death or just dying on their spot for about thirty seconds. After the explosions only a small portion of the army was left, with some Spider Jockeys and about ten more monsters. They kept retreating anyway.

"What was that?" asked Alpha, staring at the destroyed site.

"Let's just say that it was a wonderful and incredible combination of intricate Redstone circuitries, some tripwires plus pressure plates and lots of intense explosives. In other words, land mines," said Xi.

"We totally pwned those guys," said Delta.

"Totally."

X

We were back at the town, worn and tired from the battle. We managed to kill loads of monsters, but about thirty six Users were killed too. It was quite depressing to know so many people died, and I was sure more would come.

"The monsters will come again," I muttered.

"No kidding," said Omicron. Sigma was absent from our conversation, still being patched up after an arrow went through his arm.

"They come from that grey building near this island," said Rho. "So that's the source of the army."

"You mean we have to destroy it, right?" asked Delta.

"Duh. That's the only way to win this," said Alpha. "The only problem is, how?"

"Easy," I said. "We get in."

**At the Monster's Base:**

The Creeper King glowered down at the trembling Spider Jockeys. He never expected Users to turn their own weapon against them, much less beating the high-class team. And those monsters: the ones genetically altered by himself, and combined by the Skeleton General and the Spider Queen, stood before him, defeated and powerless.

"You dare return after your shameful defeat?" the Skeleton General spat. The skeleton mumbled something, and the White Archer relayed to the Creeper King.

"It does not matter!" the Creeper King hissed venomously. "Your sole purpose was to fight and kill Users; a killing machine! Running to save your lives isn't an option! Once you're sent out, you win, or die."

The Spider Jockeys were silent for a moment. After few seconds of uneasiness and tension, the middle jockey started to speak, but with a quick swipe of his foot, the Creeper King knocked the skull out clean from the spot. It hit the ground with a _smash_, shattering into pieces. The spider shook in fear as the body on top of it collapsed on its back, dissolving into particles.

"No petty excuses can save your lives," the Creeper King hissed. "All of you deemed yourselves as worthless, weak, and cowards. Especially your _rider,_" he added, and planted his foot on the spider, pushing to the ground. The spider shrieked in pain, flailing its limbs around.

"You should learn not-to-speak-up-to-your-masters-ever-again," he hissed, twisting his foot sideways as he said a sentence. The spider thrashed around even more. "_Ever,_" the Creeper King finished, stomping on the head again. The spider shivered, and stayed still, its head unrecognisable and mashed up. The other Spider Jockeys trembled uncontrollably.

"As for the rest of you," the Creeper King said, turning to the mounted pairs. He considered for a moment, and hissed softly. "_Execute them._"

A few moments later, the enhanced Spider Jockeys lay on the floor: the skeletons reduced to a fine powder of bones, with their companions shredded to pieces brutally.

X

**A/N:**

**HPE24: That's it for today, readers! Hope you enjoyed, and-**

**Alpha198: Yeah, all the goodbye stuff.**

**HPE24: No, I was going to say that I'm going back to school now, with all the GSCE course subjects to look after. This chapter was also more gruesome than others, but I believe you readers are fine with it. And to those who don't know, a second chapter of The Short Miserable Lives of Mobs Against Players was out. If you like this story, then you'll like that one too.**

**Omega245: Except that the story has swear words in it.**

**HPE24: Only for amusement.**

**Delta824: Oh.**

**HPE24: Yeah, so we would be really happy if you check it out and leave a review! That's it, so see you next time!**


	21. Into the Basement

**A/N:**

**HPE24: First of all, I'd like to thank everybody for those who have reviewed the previous chapter! Your birthday wishes really warmed up my mind! Also, I moved the character pictures to my deviantART account, and the link is on my profile. You can also see my other artworks in there, and I'll put up news or anything concerning my writing stuff in the journal section.  
>And let's see… I had some very chaotic days involving freezing classrooms, homework with a computer-ish calculator, quests for room allocations, reciting Chinese characters, and drawing shrivelled up mushrooms and an onion for homework. It's the only downside of attending art GSCE, and believe me, sitting on a cold stool for an hour, scratching the bumpy paper with a graphite pencil for a replica of some spices isn't nice.<strong>

**Alpha198: At least you like drawing.**

**HPE24: Only for dragons and animals. I'm completely different when I come to drawing dragons. It's not like people or others. I get totally epically awesome!**

**Omega245: *rolls eyes* so is this it, o great creator of August 2012's fifth-most reviewed Minecraft fanfiction?**

**HPE24: Hey… I like that title. :P Also, I would like to congratulate exb756, a great and very nice Minecraft story writer, for beating my review number and taking the place as Fifth Most Reviewed Minecraft fanfiction writer! I'm one rank down, but I'm not sure how things will turn out after this update. Of course, my brother bombarded me with reviews few days ago, even though I SAID to review ONCE IN A WHILE. Now he's planning to do every chapter. *groan* Still, I'm not over exb yet. Well done to exb756's Gone! Also, I apologise dearly for the late update. I hope the length of this makes it up to you. And… that's about it, I think. Let's get on! **

**X**

Alpha198

"Wow, do you think this is a good idea?" I asked. We were standing at a distant corner of the village, waiting for other people to join us. Many people were outside, fending off another wave of monsters. We left the wolves at Xi's house, and hoped they won't mess with the mechanisms in there.

"It's the only way," shrugged Delta. "Besides, Upsilon approved this too."

"Still, barging into the monster base is as good as committing suicide," I replied.

"Don't worry, there are other people accompanying us," said Omega. "Hopefully we have a better chance of surviving this."

"Hopefully," I muttered. Turning my gaze randomly, I saw a little crowd of people walking towards us. As they got closer, I recognised some familiar faces.

"Yep, they're coming," I announced. "Let's see… there are Xi, Rho, Omicron, and… Sigma?"

"He's better already?" asked Omega.

"Seems so," I muttered. "And there are about ten people I don't recognise… and hey, what do you know, Delta's secret girlfriend's coming too."

"She's NOT my girlfriend!" said Delta hotly, his face reddening. "I never even talked to her!"

"Sure," I sniggered. "But you'll soon." Delta blushed even more, still glaring at me.

"Hey, uh… sorry for the long wait," said Xi, as the group arrived at the corner.

"Hey, no biggie," I replied. "So… is this it?"

"Yeah," said Rho. "Not much people are so eager to barge into the base, you see."

"Obviously," Omega muttered, rolling his eyes.

As quick as he could, Xi pointed out who was who to all of us. I was immensely disappointed to see Delta trying his best not to go red when Iota said hi.

"Why is she here anyway?" asked Delta quietly to Rho.

"We weren't very keen of her to come along," Rho whispered back, "but she was so stubborn. It's good to have an extra sniper on our side, though."

"Mmh, yeah," he mumbled. I couldn't wait to see Delta being a fool in front of Iota.

"Now that we're here," said Omega loudly. "What now?"

"Easy," said Xi, grinning. He walked up to the wall, which was made out of sandstone. He counted the blocks, and lightly pressed a piece of sandstone. A whirring noise distinctively came behind the wall, and moments later, the blocks retreated, revealing a dark and rather narrow hallway.

"What's this?" I asked.

"I discovered that this island and the other one are connected to each other deep down there. And when I mean deep, it's almost bedrock level," explained Xi. "I thought of using that land as my other workshop, so I created a way to reach it. If the monsters didn't tamper with it, this should take us right into the heart of the base."

"Cool," said Delta. "What's the plan anyway?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" asked Rho. "Loads of TNT, lots of explosion and combustion."

I stared at him. "Seriously? Don't we have any tactics?"

"Well, since we don't know the building structure, yeah."

"Oh gods," Omega muttered.

"Fun!" said Xi.

"And the probability of us surviving…?" asked Sigma.

"Ah… about 5%," said Xi cheerfully.

I covered my head with my hands. "We're so screwed."

"Hey, be optimistic!" said Xi. "If we manage to get inside the island unnoticed, then it's 7%."

"That's no better," Delta pointed out.

"What? It's two numbers up!" exclaimed Xi.

I was about to say a rebuttal when a huge explosion erupted above us, bringing back to our senses.

"Less talking, more moving," said Rho hastily.

"Right," I agreed. I took one look at the long, dark, and never-ending corridor, and turned to Xi. "Er… you can have the honour."

"Fine," said Xi, rolling his eyes. He stepped into the tunnel, and the rest of us followed. Once we were all in, Delta, who was at the very back of the line, pulled a lever, shutting the entrance right after a particularly loud Creeper detonation. Noises outside ceased abruptly and we were in darkness filled with an eerie silence.

X

Xi lit a torch, and we started to walk down a staircase, Delta taking them down after the crowd passed. No one talked, and the corridor was silent except for our footsteps.

The hallway was endless. There were occasional twists and turns, but we managed to get down from the stair and walk on flat ground. I noticed pieces of black-dotted rocks jutting out from places, with nearby areas smoothened by stones. I found it weird not to see any mobs spawning here, as the darkness level was enough to spawn zombies and Creepers. They were probably all forced to spawn above us for army reinforcement. Come to think of it, we never actually saw a monster boss in the first round, and got some mutant Spider Jockeys instead. Why didn't they just show their miserable face up in the battle and wipe us out in one go? If the Creeper King was stronger than ordinary monster bosses, he surely could have done that.

My mind drifted onto thinking about the infamous Creeper. From what we have heard from careless monster leaders, he was dangerous, and more powerful than any of them. Maybe the size was bigger too. I had a vivid memory of Delta telling crazy Creepers who got zapped by lightning and caused massive damage over the world. If the king had that power, we were all dead. Without knowing, I was fantasising about what possible dangerous weapons the creeper had.

I was on the verge of imagining a gigantic Creeper shooting hundreds of explosive arrows and dropping nuclear weapons when Xi stopped, and I almost ran into him. It took a while for everybody to stop in their spot and wonder what the hell was going on.

"I think we're here," whispered Xi. He pressed his ear to the left wall, and listened intently. After four seconds or so, he withdrew, and said, "I don't hear any movements, but I know there's a room in this direction."

"Bust open?" I asked hopefully, tugging at my pickaxe.

"Feel free." I started hacking away at the stone, drilling through the surface. People nearby started to do the same, and the wall cleared off after four layers of rocks. I peeked using a corner, and saw an empty chamber, lit only with two torches. It wasn't that big, but I saw some kind of an entrance leading to an unknown place.

"Did you make this one too?" asked Omega, surveying the room.

"Yep," Xi confirmed. "I made it few years ago, except that I-uh-didn't need it anymore, so I ditched it. The original entrance must be few blocks away from our spot right now."

"Is it safe to explore?" asked Delta.

"Hopefully. Let's just see if the monsters took over my old lab." Xi crossed the room, and went through the hole/entrance. Naturally, we followed.

What met us was another long corridor with sudden turns and stairs. A distant torchlight marked another change of route.

"How big is this place anyway?" whispered Rho as we spent another 10 minutes walking up and across the corridor.

"Quite large," panted Xi, as he continued to climb the 40 block-long stairs. "I started building this when I was thirteen."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "Does that mean you fiddled with wires and created mechanisms during your teens?"

"Yeah," Xi answered. "I-I started building stuff at the age of ten."

"Hardcore," Omega whistled.

Now the tunnel was lit with plenty of torches, and widened enough for all of us to walk comfortably without lining up. But there were still lots of curved tracks with sudden stairs leading upwards.

We were about to turn another corner when Rho tensed. He motioned us to stop, and had a little peak outside. Withdrawing as quietly as he could, Rho faced us, and mouthed 'skeletons'.

X

I leaned over, and had a glimpse of ten skeletons scouting around, their bows loaded. Great, we had to fight through this.

Rho suddenly seemed to have an idea. He silently pulled out a small pebble from his pocket, resting it against his bowstring. He pulled it back, and released it.

The pebble flew through the air quietly, and shot into a rather huge hole on the other side, landing somewhere in there with a sharp _clack_.

The skeleton sentries whipped their skulls to the direction where the noise came from, and started to sprint towards it, chattering excitedly. Once they disappeared to the darkness, we slowly edged out, and broke into a run, successfully passing the once-guarded corridor.

"Smart thinking there, Rho," Omicron gasped after passing one more corner.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But won't they come back soon?" As if on cue, the sound of clanking bones increased, coming straight from that hole.

"We have to move," hissed Delta, and we sprinted along the hallway, weapons in our hands just in case we ran into monsters.

We did, eventually. Four spiders shrieked in surprise as we skidded to a halt, equally alarmed. But after twenty seconds, nothing was left of the spiders except for their drops. Judging by the sounds behind us, the skeletons were pretty close.

We ran about twenty more blocks, and arrived at an intersection where three more tunnels opened up to separate directions.

"Which way?" I heard Omega yell.

"Right side!" Xi replied, and we all followed that direction.

Xi, Rho, Omega, Delta, Iota and I were on the lead, our weapons raised. Iota sped up, and turned left, her bow loaded. After one second or so, we heard her scream "Cave Spiders!" followed by an arrow hitting its target.

The rest of us caught up with her, only to be met by twenty (yes, twenty FREAKING blue spiders) of those poisonous arachnids, all of them snapping their mandibles threateningly. I could see the spot where one of them perished by Iota's arrow.

Rho charged, swinging his blade and decapitating three spiders in one slice. Delta and Omega hacked the limbs of two spiders, and I swung my zanite sword vertically across a spider's back, chopping it in half.

Eighteen against twenty was reasonably good, but the spiders had the advantage of poison. Three of them leapt at one of the Users, and mercilessly tore at him. By the time they retreated, the man was clearly dead. Another guy screamed at my left, as four spiders bit him on his limbs. So that was two casualties on our side.

The Cave Spiders began to drive us back, but I noticed that we were backing away at the direction we were heading at the first place. We seemed to have changed sides without noticing during the fight. Ha, those bugs were stupider than I thought.

Other than four spiders, the rest of them were obliterated off the planet. Spider eyes and string lay on the ground, with some half-dissolved spider parts. I wondered if it was appropriate for Iota to see this, but then, she already popped open a spider's eye just now.

The surviving spiders didn't seem to care that they were outnumbered. They shrieked furiously, and pounced.

"Hold on, I got this," said Rho confidently. The sword flashed through the air, beheading two perfectly. He jabbed the sword forward, skewering the rest on the centre of their chest. The spiders screamed in agony, as they died a slow, painful death on the diamond sword.

Sigma did a quick head-count. "Sixteen of us survived," he concluded. "Those two were not so lucky."

I looked back at the two corpses on the floor. But before we could do anything else, the skeletons finally caught up with us, standing at the opposite end of the tunnel.

X

"Incoming!" I yelled, as the skeletons began to shoot, arrows aiming straight at us. I leapt in front of all other people, and managed to deflect arrows off using the flat side of my blade. Sigma joined in, and we pretty much managed to get arrows off our team.

"Get your bows out!" I heard Delta yell behind me, followed by shuffling and fumbling over bows and arrows. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everybody raising their bows, aiming at the skeletons.

One of the arrows from the skeletons flew out of my reach, and hit a User squarely on the chest. He slumped forward, and the arrow he was holding ricocheted off to the ceiling. That was the third person to die in our team.

Determined not to let anyone die again, I gripped my sword tightly, blocking arrows as much as I could. Waves or arrows came behind me, lodging themselves in the skeletons' eyeholes or ribcages. Five of them disintegrated after three minutes, and the rest of them were soon slain by more arrows.

"I hope this is it," Omega muttered. Sadly, he was wrong.

More monsters poured out from the intersecting tunnels: an assorted mix of spiders, skeletons, zombies, and Creepers.

Oh damn, Creepers were bad news in here.

Apparently, Xi had the same thought too. "RUN!" he yelled, and all of us obeyed without objection. Fighting a squadron of Creepers under a sandy island was as good as going into a field full of cockatrices unarmed.

Some archers, like me, were behind the group, sniping at monsters occasionally. I thought I managed to blind a spider on the left side. Too bad they had more than two eyes.

After passing another left fork, we arrived at a stair, which was wider than others we went through. I seriously hoped this was the way out.

A Creeper crawled towards us, and started to swell. And it exploded.

The stone roof collapsed, and tons of sand rained down upon us and the monster squad. We ran up the stairs as fast as we could, as the sand began to kill off monsters behind us. If we didn't make it up the stairs, we would die of suffocation like those unfortunate mobs down there.

As I ran, I heard a strangled yelp. I glanced back, and saw one of the Users grabbed by a zombie. He vanished from sight by the waves of yellow grains.

Gasping and panting, the rest of us collapsed on the smooth stone floor, as the sand managed to drown out the last monster cry. We actually managed to get up from the bedrock level all the way to here. With sacrifices, of course. I wondered how many more would die from this assault: Fourteen of us were left, and I doubted the possibility of us surviving the encounter with the Creeper King.

Judging by the distant rumble and shouts, the battle was still going on, and we were at ground level. The monster bosses were out here somewhere.

Xi was the one to get up first. He scanned the place, and pointed at one of the holes. "That's a new one," he said. "I didn't build that. Maybe the monster bosses are there."

"Right," I muttered. "Let's move."

Now that we were high up from bedrock level, the air was cooler. That was great for me, at least. Keeping the pace, we walked cautiously through the hallway, swords and bows raised. This was it: we were finally seeing who the mastermind behind all this is.

A dim light was at the end of the hallway, but I couldn't see anything else. Bracing ourselves, we moved forward.

By the time we stepped out from there, all we saw was a single torch at the middle, where the dim light was coming from. Other than that, it was completely dark.

Suddenly, the blackness retreated in a flash, and the whole chamber brightened up, except for the far end of the room. Now that I could see properly, the room was over fifty blocks high, with something lighting way up at the ceiling. The walls were mossy cobblestone, and more torches glowed on the floor. But other than that, the sight was truly horrifying.

A gigantic skeleton wearing an iron helmet stood at the left, its huge bow strung and ready to fire. That delightful female spider we met at the cold biome was there too, boring down upon us from the ceiling, attached by a single strand of string. Argentum the Mutated Silverfish shifted at the opposite side, all upgraded to his Kill-Mode. Monsters (I was surprised to see so few accompanying their bosses) surrounded them, all their eyes trained on us. Those cage-things (spawners?) were placed around at random places, each of them containing a tiny monster. We were surrounded.

"You have walked into your own deaths, Users," cackled Argentum, his slit eyes glinting with cold amusement.

"Ignorant beings, humans," mused the giant skeleton. "Never changed throughout those times."

"Indeed, Sceletus," the Spider Queen hissed. "How fun is it to play around with them?"

"Quiet," a cold voice silenced them. It came from the dark side of the room. "You have no right to say that after your failure, Nigra." That pretty much shut up the Spider Queen.

"So," the voice hissed. "I heard that four of you tried to meet those Terrarians over there, hmm?"

"Yeah," I said defiantly. "What about it?"

"It disrupted the peace we kept on for decades," the voice said. "We tried ignoring those outsiders as long as possible, but you nosy people had to join the rest of the hiders."

"Peace, huh?" I snorted. "Yeah right, after having those massacres across the three dimensions. You call that peace?"

"You insolent-" snarled Argentum, but the voice let out a chilling hiss.

"To us mobs, yes," the voice said calmly. "Users were nothing but threats to us. By vanquishing them and turning the fate around, we have found justice. And with new supreme beings to govern over them, this world will remain balanced and equal."

"Sure," Omega muttered. "And if you're one of those all-powerful beings, why don't you show your face up?"

The monster bosses tried to retort, but the voice spoke again, this time in some language that I didn't understand. Anyway, the huge monsters backed down immediately.

"You want to see me so badly?" the voice asked. "So be it."

Large footsteps echoed throughout the room, and as the thing got closer, I was able to see two big red dots glowing in the dark.

X

**A/N:**

**OMGSOSORRYFORTHECLIFFHANGERI APOLOGISE! DX So sorry people! It says like that on my schedule, so I had to write the ending like this. And sorry about those long gaps between updates, so go up to deviantART, and curse Block, whose look is revealed now. And please review, because I appreciate reviews more than favourites or alerts, and getting a mail about comments make me grin for more than three minutes. Please please please don't forget to review! :D**

**And also please check out my deviantART page, where you can find TMC characters, fan arts, dragon drawings, blu-tack sculptures, my self-drawing, and much more! I'll add journals about how my writing's going on in there, and if I feel generous, maybe some sneak peeks! I'm off for another round with Block with new weapons. Stay tuned!**


	22. Hacks

**A/N:**

**HPE24: HOLY AMBROSIUM SHARD OVER 120 REVIEWS XDDDDDDDDDDD I seriously can't express my thanks in words. Okay, my brother dumped a lot of reviews, but they technically are comments, like 'good writing' 'late update' and more. GRRRR I TOLD YOU TO REVIEW ONCE IN A WHILE. Anyway, yes, that's over 120 reviews, everyone!  
>It's the Creeper King YAAAY! I think I was a filthy hypocrite before, as I said the king had black eyes. Okay, now he has small red pupils and the rest is black, like shown on the cover. Oh yeah, I made a new cover for TMC as you can see above, and the bigger version is on deviantART, along with many other artworks I did, like HP rage comics, Paint drawings and hand-drawn ones.<strong>

**Delta824: I don't approve my sword being cropped.**

**HPE24: I had to fit it in the scale, my friend.**

**Delta824: Alpha looks way better than me!**

**Alpha198: *smug* I sure am!**

**HPE24: Yes, and I'm proud of it. Still, you're like a freaking main character. Your buddies are your supporters.**

**Omega245: Yes, yes, wait, WHAT?**

**HPE24: Obviously, he's at the centre, and he has a freaking diamond sword. You should count yourselves lucky; as I gave you guys as much privilege as I can for supporting characters.**

**Alpha198 & Omega245: Hhmph.**

**HPE24: So, yeah. By the way, I have this particular pairing that I absolutely ADORE!**

**Omega245: No way.**

**HPE24: YES WAY! Delta824/Iota443 is the best pairing I ever came up with!**

**Delta824: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**HPE24: HAHA, YEAH! I ship you guys.**

**Delta824: WHY? I never got to talk to her yet!**

**HPE24: *sighs* so perfect. You and Iota are definitely worthy of shipping. I ship this pairing! If you agree, post it on your reviews!**

**Omega245: Oh man, this is so cool.**

**Delta824: YOU GUYS! HELP ME!**

**Alpha198: Naw, I'm enjoying this show.**

**Delta824: OMEGA SAVE ME!**

**Omega245: *snickers* well, if our dear author declares so, it's OFFICIAL!**

**Iota443: What's going on?**

**Alpha198: OOOOOOOOH SOMEBODY JOINED THE SHOW.**

**HPE24: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**Omega245: Go on Delta! Admit your feelings to Iota!**

**Iota443: …what?**

**Alpha198: Oh you don't know how much Delta LIKES you.**

**Iota443: …he likes me?**

**Delta824: *passes out***

**HPE24: Jeez, like it's going to happen in the real chapter.**

**Alpha198: What?!**

**HPE24: No, I mean this isn't the part of the story obviously. I'm not going to be that mean.**

**Alpha198 &Omega245: AWWWWWWWWWW!**

**Iota443: Seriously, what the heck?**

**HPE24: Never mind, my friend. NOW it's time to get on with the story! Oh and this is the second last chapter of The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning.**

**Everybody: WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!**

**HPE24: YUP. After this one, the finale chapter will be up!**

**Everybody: FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**X**

Delta824

It was the Creeper King, all right. And he was terrifying beyond my imagination.

That guy was about five times taller than a normal User, towering over all of us. Every part of his body was deep green, except for his two cruel black eyes with small red pupils. On the top of his head rested a golden crown. Gee, I wonder what that would mean.

"Oh gods," Omega muttered, probably thinking the same thing as me: we're all dead.

The giant Creeper advanced slowly, and as he moved, light tremors passed through the ground. He bored down upon us as if deciding which one he should fry first.

"Very brave indeed for you humans to face me," he hissed. "But foolish. Fourteen Users aren't enough to kill me."

"Do you want us to take them down, my king?" asked Argentum, swinging his tail threateningly.

"Later, lieutenant," said the Creeper, and Argentum obediently retreated alongside his comrades. What a bunch of sheep.

"You think taking me down ends it all?" the Creeper King questioned. "Would it solve everything across the three dimensions?"

Alpha shrugged. "Pretty much."

The Creeper snorted. "No. Don't you consider other kings in those worlds? Other monster bosses that are conducting monsters in their own dimensions? I can tell them to blow up every place to find those Users, and they will happily do so. We have more power than you think, Users. If we're bothered enough, we can wipe out the entire human civilisations. Don't you learn from the past? Surely after what happened to the impenetrable Capital and the rest of your nation, you should have got that lesson into your mind. And after those _Praeceptors_ failed you."

"They failed us, huh?" said Rho behind me, and for some reason, his voice had suppressed rage in it. "You want to settle this with a fight? To see you have the right to say such a thing?"

"My pleasure." The Creeper King nodded slightly at his minions. At once, the monster bosses surged forward with more monsters, Argentum well in the lead. We leapt into actions as well, dodging and jabbing at the oncoming enemies.

I saw the Skeleton General firing his arrow, which struck the place where Rho was few seconds ago. Now he was in a combat with Argentum with three Users, while the rest of us were killing off nearby monsters.

I looked around, and saw the Spider Queen heading straight for Iota, who was too focused on shooting her arrow at the advancing creeper army. I rammed into the arachnid, pushing her away from Iota. The queen snarled, turning to face me with her sharp fangs snapping.

"ALPHA!" I yelled. "Back me up!"

He slew the skeleton he was fighting, and ran over, calling Omega in the process. Three against a bloodthirsty spider wasn't that bad, I guess. At least Iota was well away from the danger. Wait, WHAT THE HELL AM I-

"Meddling Users!" the Spider Queen spat, glaring at us with all eight eyes. "I will have my compensation for the last encounter!"

"Be my guest," I answered, all three of us raising our swords. The Spider Queen lunged towards Alpha, her front limbs outstretched to ensnare him. Alpha sidestepped, and Omega came forward, slashing his sword at her. She hissed in pain, as the sword tip managed to graze her left leg.

"Behind you!" said Omega, as he blocked an arrow heading for me with the flat side of his blade.

"Thanks!" I called, risking a glance at him.

"She's getting up again!" warned Alpha, as the Spider Queen rose to her feet. She shrieked in fury, and moved forward. Omega intercepted her, but she knocked the sword out of his hand, and pounced on him. We ran after them, but a crowd of spiders surrounded us, preventing us from moving onward.

Not a second after that, an arrow whizzed through the air, finding its mark at the Spider Queen's left side of the face. Omega managed to get away from her as the black arachnid jerked back, trying to pull the shaft out. Xi hurried over, releasing another arrow at the Spider Queen. It struck her straight in the mouth, leaving her screaming with an arrow lodged somewhere behind those mandibles.

"Youch," I muttered, as I struck a spider's abdomen with my sword.

"I'm the guy that saves the day," said Xi with a smug smile.

"Some help here," Alpha grunted, slicing away another spider. About ten more were scuttling around us, but they seemed to have panicked on how easily their queen took the arrow to her mouth. They backed away frantically, saving us from a hell lot of trouble.

"How thoughtful of them," Omega muttered as he observed the spiders retreating to the far side of the building. At the right side, the Spider Queen was thrashing around, still trying to get two arrows out of her face. She managed to in the end anyway. Not entirely, though, as the sticks broke away, leaving the shafts embedded in her face. Monsters weren't that smart, were they?

"FOOLS!" the Spider Queen yelled, dark grey blood dripping from her wounds. "GET BACK! KILL THEM IMMEDIATELY!"

The spiders halted, hesitating to obey her or not.

"Too afraid?" Alpha called out. "Don't be! Join us and have fun dying for a while!" He waved his bloody sword to prove his point. "I'll guarantee extra pain!" And he sliced a nearby zombie in half.

That really did it. The spiders shrieked in alarm, and backed away, ignoring their furious deranged queen.

"NO!" she screamed. "I ORDER YOU TO FIGHT!"

"That's the problem of tyranny, my friend," I commented. "Force doesn't solve everything."

The Spider Queen howled in rage, and barrelled towards us, obviously very enraged. I stepped aside casually, and the spider just ran headlong, crashing into the wall. Really, where did she use those extra six eyes?

"Wow… okay?" said Xi, staring at the Spider Queen, who was unconscious from the impact, keeling over on the smooth stone floor twitching for a bit.

"Less work for us," I said lightly. "Who wants to finish her?"

"Me!" Omega raised his sword enthusiastically, but the Skeleton General stepped in.

"Forget about her for now!" Alpha yelled as the skeleton began firing huge arrows (maybe a tiny bit bigger than the mutated archers'), driving us to the heart of the building.

"I will not fail this time!" the Skeleton General growled, sprinting after us with another arrow loaded. So far, he killed no one. Pathetic.

Omega switched his sword for his bow, and fired an arrow, striking the Skeleton General in the rib cage. Simple as that.

"Oh yeah, I am so pro!" Omega yelled, as the Skeleton General collapsed on the floor with his bones scattering all over.

"Really?" said Alpha disbelievingly. "You fought _that_ guy and barely survived, Delta?"

"Hey, he had his cronies!" I protested. But I stopped when a grinding noise came from the spot where the skeleton had fallen. The bones flew back to places, and soon enough, the reformed Skeleton General glowered at us with not a dent on his body. Jeez, this dude knew some serious hacks.

"Oh," Alpha whispered. "I take that back."

The Skeleton General growled threateningly, but before he could move a step, Argentum crashed onto him, both of them rammed on the wall. Rho lowered his sword, and said, "Yeah, that's how I play, Argentum."

"Whoa, you beat him?" I asked incredulously.

"With help," said Rho, addressing the Users behind him. They seemed to be more tired out than Rho, supporting themselves by their swords.

"Dude, you're like the most awesome swordsman living in this world," said Omega, staring at Argentum and the Skeleton General squabbling to regain their balance.

"That's overrating," said Rho, although he looked pleased by the comment.

After a quick glance around the tower, I realised that our side killed off all the normal monsters without knowing it. The only enemies left were the Creeper King standing his ground; the stupid spider stirring on the floor; and the gigantic silverfish trying to lift himself up while the Skeleton General flailed beneath Argentum's massive body, trying his best not to get disassembled again.

"So that's half the trouble settled," Xi muttered. "What now?"

The green monster eyed the spawners near him, and come to think of it, the monsters inside the cages seemed to swell considerably larger every second.

"It is time," he hissed, looking expectantly at the cages as the monsters inside it filled the space rapidly.

"Shouldn't we destroy those things?" asked Iota nervously. But at that moment, the cages burst into flames. When the smokes cleared, we were able to see what horrendous mutants the Creeper King has cooked up for us.

From the skeleton spawners, gigantic skeletal figures rose, hunched forward and gripping long, thick bows. To make it even more intimidating, this breed had spikes everywhere on their bones.

Spiders were no better: They had ten blood-red eyes that swivelled around individually, with two curved mandibles with barbed edges protruding out of their mouths. The abdomens were unnaturally big, while the waists looked too brittle to connect the huge abdomens to their heads. Their spindly legs had barbs as well, and made horrible screeching sounds whenever they were scraped on the floor. Some mutant skeletons hopped onto the spiders' flat backs, forming Extra-Evolved Mounted Snipers.

Zombies and silverfishes rose as well, and for zombies, they had taller statures, longer limbs and looked more decomposed. Yuck. Silverfishes weren't that bad compared to the rest of those breeds, but they certainly have increased in size, and looked like miniature Argentums with less-intimidating looks. Thing could not go better.

But the worst monsters of them all were the Creepers. Perhaps their king showed favouritism towards them, because it was hard to miss those claws on their feet, much less the abnormally long body with spikes on their backs. Overall, they were ugly beyond the limits.

The Creeper King laughed, and even other monster bosses joined in, although the queen spider looked very dishevelled.

"Behold!" the Creeper cackled. "The enhanced army spawners invented by the great Creeper King himself!"

"Wonderful," Alpha muttered.

X

So, yeah. The Creeper King has an endless supply of mutant armies from total 10 spawners, two for each kind of monsters. We had fourteen very beaten-up Users with armours, swords, and bows, with one person having an exceptionally dangerous murder weapon. Now I really started to trust Xi's prediction.

A horned Creeper made the first move by scuttling towards Iota, probably because she was the smallest of us all. It learned its lesson after having three arrows stuck in the forehead, but the other monsters started to charge as well. We started to spread out, and after a few minutes, Alpha and Omega were out of my sight.

As I slashed at a gigantic spider, a suspicion began to rouse in my mind. It had been almost two hours since we arrived at the tower's main floor, but the Creeper King hasn't even participated in the battle, much less leave his spot. He just stood there, watching the fight and shifting slightly as if trying to get a better look, which strongly reminded me of Argentum in our last battle. I doubted that theory, for the creeper could not miss a single scene while standing out among all the fighters, even casting shadows over Users and monsters twenty blocks away.

An explosion shook the ground, probably thirty blocks away from me. I quickly turned around, only to be met by a gigantic crater about 10 blocks wide, littered with debris and possibly remnants of the Users that were caught in the blast.

I lost count of dead Users now: there were too many explosions in the tower, and occasional monsters blocked me from locating others. A Creeper almost blew up on me, but I decapitated it just in time. Cutting off Creeper heads when they're a block taller than you isn't easy.

A mutated spider swivelled its head towards me, and scuttled forward with unnatural agility. I raised my sword just in time to prevent a leg from pinning me down. The spider added the other front leg on my blade, persisting on rubbing me to the ground while other mobs battled near us.

My arms trembled as the spider leaned forward, pressing harder on my sword. Then, quite unexpectedly, it raised a right leg and swiped at me.

I pulled away, but a spike on the leg stabbed my left arm and threw me to the west wall. The impact wasn't pleasant, of course.

My back hurt like hell, but the big gash the spike left was agonising. It looked pretty deep with blood pouring out profusely, running down my arm in thick lines. Groggily, I saw the spider charging towards me, shrieking in triumph. Yep, I was screwed.

An arrow (okay, why are there so many arrows flying around here?) went clean through the arachnid's face, halting it from ripping me to shreds. Iota bounded forward, unsheathed a sword and started to lop off the spiders' limbs. Iota443 can even swordfight. That's pretty cool.

With a last swing, the spider's head came off, and all the amputated parts slowly dissolved, issuing black smoke. Iota put back her sword, and helped me up. Yes, she just saved me.

"Thanks," I said gratefully. "You saved my life."

"You saved me from the Spider Queen first," she replied, smiling. I wouldn't have been surprised if my face was deep red now.

"I guess…" I muttered. Iota looked pretty fine, except for light scratches and a slightly red scar on her face.

"How's your arm?" asked Iota, glancing concernedly at my bloody wound.

"Lousy."

"I don't have any food or healing potions on me, but let's go find the others and get out of here," said Iota.

"But we can't," I told her. "All the exits are blocked by monsters, and the underground route was buried, remember?"

"Can't we bust open the walls?"

"We don't know how thick they are, and besides, monsters would kill us before we even trigger the TNT."

Iota glared at the Creeper King, who was still sitting on his royal spot for hours. "Then we die fighting these jerks," she growled.

"We will," I assured her. "Come on, we should move on."

"Wait," Iota said abruptly. "What is _that?_" She pointed at a glowing thing, obscured in thick acrid smoke. I approached it cautiously, and squinted at the thing. Then I realised what it was.

"This, my friend," I announced, "is a spawner."

X

Grabbing the pickaxe with my good arm, I started to hack away at the cage furiously. It looked like a spider spawner, and judging by the flames and the monster's size, it was going to release another batch of fresh monsters.

I managed to bust open the cage as the flames started to rise, but a really weird thing happened next. All around the tower shrieks and screams filled the air, all coming from the spiders. They sounded like in pain. When the smokes cleared a bit, I was able to see half of the spiders left dead on the floor, dissipating slowly. Monsters and Users alike stared at the dead spiders in amazement and confusion.

"D-do you think spawners kill them?" asked Iota.

"Most likely," I said. "There's no other answer."

Iota looked around, and spotted another spider spawner about 10 blocks away. "Well then, let's finish the job," she said, pulling out her pickaxe as well. We charged.

The monsters realised what we were doing, and started to head towards us, but the surviving spiders screamed in agony as Iota cracked the spawner open. Other Users seemed to know what was going on now, and I saw Alpha dashing to a spawner, his pickaxe gripped firmly.

"STOP THEM!" the Creeper King roared. "PROTECT THE SPAWNERS!"

Monster bosses reared up, obeying their king's order, but fresh cries of skeletons rang out, one of their spawners presumably destroyed.

"I'll clear the path. You go for the cage over there," I told Iota, pointing at a flaming cage with a zombie spinning inside.

"Are you sure?" asked Iota sceptically, eyeing my arm.

"I'm better with a sword than you," I said grimly. "Get ready."

"Whatever you say," said Iota.

Now that all the spiders were gone, it was easy for me to deal the rest with one arm. A zombie fell to the floor, followed shortly by two more skeletons with cracked skulls. Only a silverfish and a Creeper blocked our way to the spawner, but they too met their early demise with my diamond sword. Iota worked her way through the cage, but before it cracked open, the spawner released five zombies within it. Thankfully, they looked half-baked and unstable, so they collapsed and shrivelled up even before I got to deal with them. The cage was destroyed soon enough, leaving the rest of the zombies moan to their death.

Somewhere from our left, Omega smashed up a silverfish cage, while Sigma hacked away at the last skeleton spawner. We ran towards them, but a huge figure blocked our way.

"Not so fast," the Skeleton General snarled.

"Great, it's you again," I complained. "Do I need to go over the process?"

"Not really," said Iota, and with surprising speed, picked an arrow, fitted in her bow, and fired straight into the skeleton's skull before he could react. With his head blown, the king of skeletons crumpled to the ground, and didn't start to reform.

"Maybe he takes a while to repair himself for this," said Iota.

"That-that was really cool," I stammered.

Iota blushed slightly, and she looked really cute like that. "Thanks," she grinned.

"Hey, guys!" Omega yelled as he ran towards us, still holding his pick and leaving the spawner in ruins. The only major injury he had was a diagonal cut across his right cheek, but he didn't seem to care much about that. "What happened to your arm, Delta?" he asked, staring at my scar.

"Long story," I said. "Know anyone dead?"

"Two Users died, but I saw Xi killing a Creeper, and I think Rho's fighting Argentum," he answered.

"He's still fighting that monster?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Well, he's the only match for him," Omega shrugged, carelessly wiping blood off his scar. "I haven't seen Omicron, though."

"Last time I checked, he was attacking a squad of Creepers around their spawner," said Sigma as he joined us. Right after he said that, a distant hiss came from the far end of the room, and collapsing sounds followed.

"Looks like Omicron did his job," I smiled.

"Oh, I forgot about your arm," said Sigma, as somebody (probably Xi) destroyed a spawner, killing the last silverfishes. He pulled out a glass bottled filled with bright red liquid, and handed it to me. "It's a Potion of Healing. Won't repair that cut immediately, but better than nothing."

"Thanks," I said, and gulped down quickly. I guess the blood flow lessened, but it still burned so bad.

The room was deserted, compared to the previous state. Only two spawners remained near the Creeper King, and the rest of the Users were trying to break them with monsters and their leaders attacking.

As we ran to their direction, I spotted a corpse of a User, and judging by the mutilation, Argentum killed him. Another User lay dead on the floor, burn marks and puncture wounds covering his body. I presumed those two were the ones Sigma told us about.

Argentum roared in pain as Rho swung his sword, chopping off a spine along with it. He already had spikes disconnected from his body, so he looked lopsided, and somewhat silly.

Rho seemed exhausted even more. He seemed to fight better on stable grounds unlike those sandy islands before, but with one User gone, he wasn't doing so well. Broken spines stuck out from everywhere, and his head was wet with blood. But they fought on, blades striking another.

Wiping blood away from his forehead, Rho charged again, feint a move and stabbed at the silverfish's underbelly. He quickly pulled out his sword just as Argentum started to flail, knocking over nearby monsters with his thick armour.

Glaring murderously, Argentum crawled towards the two Users as fast as he could while leaving a trail of dark red blood on his wake. Rho's companion moved forward to meet him, but a black figure shot out from the side, snatching him. A few seconds later, the User was lifeless before the Spider Queen, his blood dripping from her mandibles. Just that moment, someone cracked another spawner, and zombies began to fall right on cue, leaving the spiky creepers to the mercy of Users.

The surviving humans started to regroup, attempting to penetrate the defences around the last spawner. Even the Creeper King moved, standing threateningly by the burning cage. I joined in, brandishing my diamond sword at the creepers and chopping them up as much as I can. Alpha was at my right, slaying the beasts with his zanite sword. He had lines of blood running down the side of his face, and his left ankle was damp with those red liquid.

"What's with your arm?" he asked.

"Mutant spider snagged it," I grunted, smacking a Creeper's head with the flat side of my blade. "What happened to you anyway?"

"Some explosions, some punches, and a good smack in the head," replied Alpha, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Omega flung a Creeper away from him, which struck the wall where the Creeper King was turning his back on. Immediately, all monster bosses flinched, and Rho managed to get a huge chunk of silverfish spine out of Argentum. The Creeper King looked almost panicked, glancing at the wall to see if it was damaged. What was up with them anyway?

While we were fighting the Creepers, only Rho stayed where he was, duelling Argentum fiercely. Both sides seemed to have slowed down for the past few minutes. Suddenly, Xi abandoned his spot, and ran to Rho. I could see why: the spider boss was about to tackle Rho. Xi rammed into the black spider full force, slamming her to the wall behind the Creeper King like that Creeper before. I swear I saw the wall shaking by the impact. But too much.

When she hit the wall, dust billowed from above, but some came straight from the wall, forming a rectangular shape before dispersing. Definitely rectangular.

Suddenly, everything came together in my mind, pieces of unsure scenes fitting perfectly. The Creeper King abstaining from battle; monster bosses anxious about the well-being of a stone wall; and especially the one I just saw proved my theory right.

"Alpha," I whispered, but loud enough for him to hear me.

"What?" he asked, glancing around to see any more Creepers interrupting. "Make it quick, there are a hell lot of Creepers coming."

"I found out," I told him. "I found a way to win this."

X

**A/N:**

**So, the second-final chapter has ended (almost 9 freaking pages with 3867 words), which leaves me to write only one more to finish this story! :D And since exb756 has shown kindness beyond my expectations, I dedicate this chapter to him as a repayment for his awesome support and such heart-warming praises. I cried 11:35 in the morning when I saw his comment on deviantART. Seriously. IF YA READING THIS, EXB, THIS CHAPTER IS FOR YAH. :D**

**We didn't see the Creeper King in action here, but I promise I will write about it the first thing in Chapter 23. He's really dangerous. Just know that.**

**And don't forget to visit my deviantART page people! Remember that you don't need an account to access pics and light spoilers!**

**Finally, how will this story end? What is the weakness of the great Creeper King? It all gets revealed in the finale chapter of The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning (I started on it already. :P)**

**PLEASE REVIEW MY LOVELY FANS. I WANT TO SEE IF THIS CAN REACH 140. :D**


	23. A Rather Abrupt Ending

**A/N:**

**HPE24: So, the finale chapter of The Minecraft Chronicles: The Beginning is finally here! :D I have received many brilliant reviews after I uploaded the second-last chapter, and people have been trying to figure out what the Creeper King's weakness was.**

**Omega245: Seriously.**

**HPE24: Yup. The guesses were pretty creative and got over my imaginations, but I must say, LexiLopezi's guess was the closest out of all the comments. You shall find out the real thing soon!  
>And I would also like to thank all the people who reviewed the last chapter as well. You, Mellifluousness, for example, left a wonderful review during my English lesson that kept me sneaking back to read the mail instead of doing my coursework (yep, I'm naughty. :P). But I love all the fans. :D<strong>

**Omega245: Lazy.**

**HPE24: Yeah. **

**Delta824: Please get on with the real things? People want to know what happens next.**

**HPE24: Fine. Oh, and I'll let Delta conclude this story, since he's the mainey in the series.**

**Alpha198: What's a mainey?**

**HPE24: Stands for main character. I just abbreviated it. :P**

**P.S. I don't think I mentioned the Creeper King's real name in this story before. Well, it's Crepitus, and I know there's medical meaning for it, but I'm aiming for Latin. If you visited my deviantART page, you'll know what I'm talking about. Also, the Creeper King's action is quite short, I'm afraid. Sorry, but I put in as much as I can to fit in the plot.**

**P.P.S. To Patrick, the Anonymous Reviewer: I'm really thankful that you find this enjoyable. I think I mentioned this a lot before, but I'm going to write loads of sequels for this series. I'm not going to end it with just this! I mean, it's the beginning, come on! :P And no, I don't accept OCs. Sorry! Maybe I'll do a proper OC contest in the future, but that's most unlikely, and even if I have it, I'm going to put some kind of restriction for names. If the OCs have unique names, I would go crazy of thinking an excuse for that. I REALLY want to keep all the characters named with Greek alphabets and numbers. Hopefully you can understand. **

**X**

Delta824

That caught him unexpectedly. Alpha stopped, and turned to look at me with wide eyes.

"Are you serious?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Dude, haven't you wondered why the Creeper King stayed out the entire time?" I asked. "All the monsters freaked out when Omega threw that creeper at the wall."

"Hmm, come to think of it, the Creeper King seemed worried when the Spider Queen hit it too," Alpha commented.

"Yeah, and I swear I saw the wall shudder."

"What?" Alpha yelped. "Is there something like an empty space behind it?"

"Something's in that space," I pressed on. "Something that's too valuable and fragile that would shatter in light tremors. He won't let any of his minions to guard it; they all failed him already. He's not stupid enough to give them such huge responsibilities, like protecting all of their lives."

"Wait a sec, then there's-?" Alpha started.

"A power source," I concluded. "If we get that thing, they'll be helpless. What else would make them so nervous?"

"But…" Alpha trailed off, looking at the Creeper King. "We'll have to go through_ him._"

"Someone should distract him," I decided. "Xi is helping Rho, and Omicron, Sigma and other Users are heading for the spawner, so they're occupied right now."

"Then let Iota do it," said Alpha.

"What? It's too dangerous for her!" I exclaimed. "The Creeper would blow up or something and-"

"Dude, I know you've fallen so hard on Iota." I shot a murderous glance. "But who else would get that green dude out of the place? She's handy with a bow, so it won't be a close combat."

"Yeah, but still…" I trailed off.

"Just do it," snapped Alpha. "More people might die because of us. And we can have one of the Users stick with Iota."

I thought for a moment. "Fine," I agreed. "But we need to knock out other monster bosses. We can't let them harm anyone else."

"Sure thing. I'll go grab Omega."

"Wait, all of us are going?" I asked.

"We're friends," said Alpha simply. "We'll do this together." And he ran off, wading through the increasing Creeper army. I turned as well and searched Iota. I found her soon enough, prickling the Spider Queen with her arrows.

"GAH!" the spider yelled, as another arrow found its mark. "FILTHY HUMANS! I'LL KILL YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

"Not gonna happen," I growled behind her. I managed to strike her head with the hilt of my sword, shoving her away from us. The Spider Queen was knocked out, so that was half the job done.

"I guess you saved me again," said Iota, grinning.

"We saved each other from spiders," I said sheepishly.

"Still, I owe you one."

"About that," I started. "I need you to do something."

"Huh?" she asked.

I jabbed my thumb at the roaring Creeper King behind me. "Get that Creeper out of there."

Iota paled. "WHAT?" she yelped. I frantically gestured at her to shut up, but her voice was modified by loud explosions going up from the Creepers.

"I figured out a way to win this battle," I whispered. "I just need him to get out of my way."

"How can I do that?" she whispered back, obviously panicked. "All I have are some arrows and a bow."

"So you're safer than a swordsman," I told her. "Just snipe him with arrows until he gets aggravated enough to chase you. Get another User to help you, and then maybe you can watch out."

"But-I-how-," she stuttered.

"Look, grab his attention so he won't notice three Users sneaking in the wall," I said firmly, tossing her my arrow supplies. "That's the only way to win this."

"What exactly is your plan?" asked Iota suspiciously.

"No idea. I need to get in there and get something. Just do as you're told."

Iota pursed her lips, but she said, "Fine, just be safe."

I was taken aback by the fact that Iota was concerned in my safety. "I will, and you too." I managed to reply.

Iota glanced at me one last time, and darted off towards the main fight, talking briefly with one of the surviving Users and running to the Creeper King. She fired an arrow, and actually hit one of his legs. He hissed in surprise and pain.

"WHO DARES-" he started, but not before getting another arrow on the body.

Okay, I admit that Iota is really cool. And beautiful as well.

His Lameness must have finally realized who was attacking him, because the command: "GET HER!" rang out clearly throughout the tower. The Creepers responded, but Users blocked them and ran their swords through the green bodies. No monster bosses came forward, but my question was answered soon enough.

"Oi, Delta!" called Alpha, with Omega tagging along. Their number of bruises increased, but they looked really pleased.

"Took the Skeleton General, then?" I asked.

"Sure we did," beamed Omega. "We destroyed him, but it will take some time with Creepers trampling over him. Captain Bones is pretty much out of the game."

"Good job. Iota is moving the Creeper King out of his place now. Hopefully she won't take long."

The Creeper King snarled, as arrows pierced some very painful places like his face and neck for instance. No monster came forward to stop, so Iota kept on firing arrow after another, sometimes shooting three arrows at once. They all found their mark, and Crepitus looked like his temper was boiling at the highest point. Even with all the arrows tearing through his skin, he stood his place. I had to admit, he was a very stubborn creature.

"I do admire your patience," called Iota almost tauntingly. "But would it last long?" And she struck his forehead with a very accurate aim.

The Creeper screamed. "THAT'S IT," he roared. "YOU WILL REGRET THAT, YOU-" And he called Iota with some nasty names that made fighters look back surprised, before tearing after her and her companion. He let out a series of hisses at the mutant Creepers, and five of them surged forward before the Users could slay them, taking his place by the stone wall. We moved as stealthily as possible out from the Creeper King's view, heading for the wall. The sentries rose at once, hissing and spitting threateningly.

"Ah, shut it," snapped Omega. He lunged, and after sidestepping a Creeper pouncing, he swung his sword across its body, cleaving into a nice half. The other Creepers looked somewhat hesitant of abandoning their post even after one of them was slain by us. We were running out of time: the Spider Queen started to stir a bit, and Sceletus' remains were moving slowly.

Alpha prodded me and said, "You don't have any arrows on you, right?"

"I gave my last ones to Iota," I confirmed.

"Then we have to go close combat," said Omega. "Try not to blow them up."

"Got it," I replied, and ran to the nearest Creeper. It jerked back in surprised, but my diamond sword impaled its throat before it could even hiss. I wheeled around and faced another Creeper, but it seemed to contemplate on whether to blow up or not. However, when I tried to half its body, the Creeper turned its back on me, countering the blow with its spine. Now that was really something for me.

"Smart," I commented. "But not quite." And I kicked the Creeper's back (not the spine, HELL NO), and swung my sword to finally end its miserable life.

Alpha kicked a dead Creeper's corpse away from him with his leg, grinning. "Well, that was simple."

"Not for me," Omega grunted. "Think I twisted my ankle evading that Creeper."

I inspected his leg briefly. "Lean onto Alpha for a while. I'm going to break the wall open." Like that, I yanked my pick out, and started to dig. No monsters intercepted us, most likely because they had other things to worry about. Behind me, Alpha and Omega scanned the area for any approaching threats, but thankfully, the coast seemed to be clear.

As I presumed, the wall was brittle enough to penetrate in 2 minutes, and I was soon facing a narrow hole barely big enough for me, leading to a dark chamber. Whatever was in there would end all of this. I was sure of it.

"Cover for me," I told the others, and they nodded, moving forward to shield me and the hole from the monsters' view. I silently slipped through the gap, entering the chamber.

X

I wasn't able to tell where I was going, so I stuck a torch right in front of me. The flame casted a dim light around the room, revealing a rather small area with cobwebs coating the ceiling. The only thing that came into my eyes was a chest in the middle. Breathing slowly, I approached the chest, my hand outstretched to open the lid. When I opened it, there was nothing but an object I was least expecting.

A Nether Star.

Seriously.

Of course, I never saw a real one before, but the descriptions I've read in the books matched perfectly to this thing. But why the monsters would choose the drop of Withers, I had no idea. It really seemed stupid now, that the all-powerful monster bosses were depending on _this_ tiny thing to annihilate the Users.

The star glowed as I picked it up. It continued to glow in my palms, but the light became more radiant and iridescent that almost made me sorry to destroy it. I kept my gaze on that object, taking in every part of it.

I heard an explosion. But this was far too loud for a normal Creeper, and even mutated ones: Spiky Creepers didn't make my bones rattle, much less by exploding few chunks away from me. The Nether Star shook violently in my hands, responding to the tremors. If the Creeper King was able to repeat that infinitely, he would kill every single living thing in a few seconds.

I charged out of the room, the Nether Star slippery in my hand. Everything was obscured in smoke, but they retreated fairly quickly. Both Users and monsters rose from the ground, but some bodies weren't moving at all, presumably killed in the blast. Omega and Alpha were the nearest to me, coughing and glancing around for our friends. Xi and Rho were struggling to get up, and Omicron was supported by Sigma. Even the monster bosses survived the blast, but the majority of the Creeper army were smouldering on the floor. Even though they were enhanced mobs, they seemed to have weaker health, collapsing by an explosion chunks away from them. The Creeper King stood at the other end of the building, looking perfectly fine and surrounded by blackened and melting stone blocks. A huge chunk of the wall was missing, showing those yellow islands outside. Even the ceiling shuddered and swayed dangerously. Now that I saw this dude's power, I was really, really scared.

Iota. I just remembered her. Where was she? Surely she found some way to protect herself from the explosion. I desperately clung onto that idea, but my mind became more panicky every second. I would be responsible for her death; I was the one who told her to get the Creeper King.

"Come on out, little girl," the Creeper King hissed, glancing around to find Iota. "Afraid of the nasty Creeper?" And he blew up for the second time.

I instinctively grabbed the star tightly as the whole island shook once more, shrouding my visions with thick grey smoke. Where was Iota? How many Users were left? And one other question: Why the hell was I not smashing the Nether Star?

"You can't hide forever, you brat," the Creeper snarled. But did this mean she was alive? "Don't make me tear this place block by block."

My brain remembered that I could talk, so I spoke up. "You wouldn't want to do that."

The Creeper swivelled his head to my direction. "What-?"

"Forgot already?" I called, waving the Nether Star so everybody would have a good look at it. The Creeper King paled.

"No!" he yelled. "How-?"

"Whoops," I said, tossing the star into the air and stepping back innocently. The Nether Star sailed down to the ground, and smashed on the floor into thousands of white shards. So much for the pretty object.

Every single monster bosses froze, and started to shake uncontrollably on their spot. The mutant Creepers immediately collapsed, shuddering and twitching as they shrivelled and dissolved into black fluids. Since the monsters made those mutants with the power from the star, it made sense that all their lives were tied to the object. But the monster bosses didn't collapse or die: they just stayed there, shaking and trembling. Users stared in amazement as the monster leaders were incapacitated by a mere Nether Star's destruction.

"USERS!" the Creeper King screamed, swaying on his spot but keeping his red pupils to us, "THIS MAY BE ONE VICTORY, BUT IT IS NOT OVER!" And he disappeared on his spot along with other monster bosses, presumably teleporting to their original hideout.

We stood there dumbfounded, slowly realising what just happened. We actually beat them. We survived the Creeper King.

"Delta," called Omega. "What exactly did you do?"

"Long story. Tell you later," I responded.

"Good idea; this place is about to fall apart," said Xi. "Anyone else alive other than us?"

"Yeah. I'm right here." From the destroyed entrance, Iota came out. Thank gods, she was all fine even after two blasts of the royal Creeper.

"You're alive!" I said enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm too quick for him. That stupid oaf."

In total, nine of us were alive out from 18 that we started with. I looked regrettably at the dead Users, sorry for not giving them a proper burial. Chunks of rock started to fall from the ceiling and crashed on the floor, and the stone base shuddered alongside the whole building.

"Hopefully the battle out there is over," said Sigma. "I had enough of monsters today."

X

We were back in Xi's house, lounging about and relaxing. The battle ended, thank gods, so Omicron, Sigma, Iota and Xi were out to fix the holes caused by creepers. Casualties were high, but it seemed that the monster death tolls were higher. That stone building collapsed completely right after we got out into a safer distance, confirming our victory over the Monster Allies. The rest of us were left here, talking to each other about our encounter with the Creeper King. Rho was passed out in the bed, covered in bandages and exhausted by hours of fighting with Argentum. Before he went to sleep, however, he said he'll murder the person that will wake him up. He even had the sword propped up next to his bed. I hoped he was bluffing.

"Now the monsters are defeated," said Alpha. "What now?"

"We should go to other dimensions," I said simply. "Remember the creeper's last warning?"

"Of course. The Creeper King wouldn't stay quiet to the other monster kings," said Omega. "Which one first: Nether or Aether?"

"Any that we can get to quick," I replied. "Maybe we can go for the other Users' hideout and see if any of your parents are there."

Both of them shook their head. "They won't be," said Omega. "Think about it, the Users went into hiding years and years ago. Why would they abandon us and go join them?"

"Yeah, and I doubt the monster kings would have let them to reach there," said Alpha.

I thought of pointing out the fact that we lived our entire lives during their regime, but I chose to be quiet. "If you think so," I said later on.

"It'd be great to see Vulcan again," said Alpha, accidentally nudging Omega's bandaged leg. "Oops, sorry man," he said as Omega let out a yelp.

"Be more cautious," Omega grumbled. "I got two injuries on that place just in one day."

I absentmindedly glanced out the window, scratching the bandage over my arm and listening to Alpha and Omega bickering. I knew the Creeper King would be back, but we wouldn't worry about him now. Until then, we would go to both the Aether and the Nether to stop the other two from attacking the Users. We defeated the Creeper King, so why not the rest? Besides, it would be interesting to visit the other two worlds.

Then I thought of how I became of trusting two Users from the other dimensions. I wasn't alone anymore; there are more people like me, and I had friends for company. This whole business wouldn't be that bad, after all.

This was only the beginning.

X

A long shadow passed the floor as the Creeper King stumbled his way across the room. He hissed in discomfort as he sat down gingerly, and raised his head.

"Argentum," he rasped, and someone stirred in the shadow. "The matters are worse than I thought. Alert Flammus and Atlas immediately. It's time."

X

**A/N:**

**HPE24: So, that's that. The monster bosses look pretty weak, but our characters had experiences fighting with them, so that should explain the situation. But, yeah. That was just the ending of TMC: TB.**

**And please look out for the next story of The Minecraft Chronicles! I'll hopefully release a cover of it soon. I already have a design in my head. :B Any further news about it shall be released on deviantART. Meanwhile, I'm going to update The Short Miserable Lives of Mobs Against Players with my bro. Just in case you have forgotten, it's a collaboration story written by me and my bro.**

***bows* Good bye, my faithful readers, and I will see you in the next story The Minecraft Chronicles: Phantom of the Aether!**


End file.
